Bag And Tag It
by NCIS-Kingdom
Summary: The Team finds themselves head-first within a strange case involving a dead Lance Corporal inside of a local grocery store. Ducky however uncovers much more to this marine's death than what meets the eye and suspects an oncoming attack from an ever evasive source. To protect themselves and others in the community, they'll have to capture the suspect before death spreads its wings.
1. The Case

**A/N: Hey everyone! Okay so I've decided to write another story but this will be based on a crime. The name 'Bag and Tag it' comes from the expression which is used frequently by Gibbs. This story is going to hold an interesting plot revolved around a case- like in the TV episodes. I've had this idea in mind for a while and I'm going to make it as mysterious and interesting as I can so tell me what you think and please enjoy!**

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

The elevator doors open with a ding, revealing one charming Anthony DiNozzo as he struts out into the NCIS squadroom with style. He wears a fitting jet-black suit, a navy blue tie, and his usual tinted sunglasses that clung to his face.

He throws his backpack and equipment down with thrusting ease before turning to take a seat at his desk; a wide dashing smile already smearing across his lips. He glances around at his co-workers' desks.

All were vacant.

 _First one in. Third day in a row DiNozzo. You are good..._ He muses to himself before turning on his computer for work.

Next thing you know, the elevator doors ding again and slide open to reveal one frantic looking McGee. He looks in a hurry and practically is out of breath; signaling to Tony that he had attempted to get here first.

The Probie wore a simple white dress-shirt with his usual brown suit over top of it and no tie.

"Well, well, well! Look who finally decided to join us?" Tony teases with a prideful look perched on his face. McGee slows his pace and lets out an exasperated huff at the sight of the Senior Field Agent.

"What? Really? How did you honestly get here before me?" McGee rolls his eyes before heading for his own desk now; his annoyance clearly visible for his defeat of the day.

Tony only soaks it in as McGee adds, "And by the way, there is no 'us' here Tony. Just you. Nobody else is here yet."

With this though Tony simply gawks a chuckle. "Oh? How interesting. Just shows how dependable I am." He leans back within his seat before throwing his legs up on his desk and McGee just gives a snort.

"You know what? I don't really even care..." The Probie says before turning to his desk, but Tony only shakes his head. "Then why in the world were you bookin' it to get up here before me?" The senior agent questions; and suddenly the elevator dings yet again- revealing another one of DiNozzo's co-workers.

Both men turn their attentions towards the elevator to see none other than their Israeli friend.

"Hola, Mi Ziva! Bienvenido!" Tony throws a wink over towards his arriving partner while Ziva just smiles at his use of Spanish. "Good morning everyone." She greets as she sets her backpack and bags down behind her desk.

She wore a tight dark brown vest which revealed some of the skin on her lower stomach area, a clasping belt, and even tighter cargo pants that hugged her waist perfectly.

Tony practically wanted to melt at her appearance. Her attire looked so good on her... Though he'd never admit it.

McGee nods at the Israeli as Tony also suddenly notices how Ziva's hair seemed rather damp at the moment.

"Been swimming, David?" Tony asks with a questioning look and Ziva just lifts one shoulder before dropping it. "No, actually I went for an early run this morning. And when I got to work, I was sweaty so I showered." She explains with a simple gesture to her extra bags she had hauled in.

"Ahh..." Is all Tony manages to mutter as he begins trying to picture what she had looked like while out on the run. Had she been in tight work-out attire?

 _She certainly had to have taken her clothes off for the shower..._ He thinks rather naughtily.

"So, you were here really early? As in early early?" McGee finally brings Tony back to reality with his question and Ziva nods in response.

The Probie then swings his attention back onto Tony with a grin and gives a boastful laugh. "Ha! You weren't the first one here after all! Ziva was!" He taunts, and Tony just rolls his eyes.

It is then that finally their silver-haired boss comes strutting into the room with his usual coffee in hand. "Got a dead marine." he informs in a gruff tone; which causes for each field agent to leap from their seats and begin grabbing their things.

"Tony, gas up the car; I'll meet you guys there." He demands, and Tony cocks his head like a dog. "Where we goin' boss?" He asks.

"We're going to Harwood, off of Davidsonville." He replies with a snap before heading for the staircase that would take him to the third floor.

McGee's gaze stays on Gibbs before he turns to catch up with his co-workers at the elevator. "I know where Harwood is." He comments once he joins the other two in the elevator.

"Oh goodie! Then you can tell me how to get there because I'm driving." Tony grins with a flick of the car keys.

* * *

The car pulls to a quick halt before the three field agents hop out. Once Tony pulls on his NCIS jacket and cap, he lets out a groan. It was a hot day to be wearing this kind of apparel.

"Oh don't be such a child, Tony." Ziva chides with a smirk as she finishes pulling her hair into a neat bun.

"Okay so, where to?" McGee questions next as he scans their surroundings. There wasn't much to see on this little street.

Police cars however directed their attentions over towards a warehouse-looking building. Obviously the murder had taken place over there.

"Guess we better join them." Tony grimaces before leading the way through some of the tall grasses that lined the roadway.

The three agents file before the warehouse where four to five local LEOS stood; some with clipboards in hand and others talking simply.

"You three feds?" One woman finally acknowledges them with an attempt of a smile.

Tony just holds his credentials up before nodding in response. "Good guess." He muses.

"So, what happened here?" Ziva asks next with a short glance towards the warehouse building. The police official crosses her arms before shaking her head. "Victim has been shot multiple times in the chest. Someone found him among the pile he was under." She explains, and McGee gains a confusing expression to his face. "Um, pile? What pile?" he asks.

The woman pauses. "He was found under a pile of food- or groceries for that matter. This place is a food market. You know, a grocery store- or was one I guess." She corrects herself as suddenly Gibbs comes strutting up to the team; his eyes glancing to every officer in turn. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs, we'll take it from here guys." He flashes his badge and credentials to the woman and a few other by-standing cops before turning towards his team. That was his cue for the police to be on their way.

"So? What happened?" He asks them.

Ziva quickly explains to Gibbs what they've just learned on the victim. Once she finishes she adds, "No suspect yet and not much to go on either."

Gibbs nods as McGee continuously feels his curiosity linger.

 _Food? He was under a pile of food?_ He frowns. This was going to be one strange case.

"Get in there and check it out. McGee, Tony, crime scene photos. Ziva, check if we can get the security footage here." He demands, and each agent only nods before voicing their responses:

"On it Boss!"

"On it."

"Sure thing, Gibbs."

Gibbs then watches as Tony and McGee head over to their backpacks for their cameras. Ziva starts off for the building just as a hand comes to land on Gibbs' shoulder.

He turns before cracking a small smile at his friend Ducky.

"Duck, we got a body." He remarks, and the Medical Examiner grins. "Those are my specialty, Jethro."

...

McGee pulls out his crime scene camera before falling into step behind Tony. The Senior Agent leads the way towards the Grocery building before coming to a halt in front of it- McGee nearly colliding into him from the abrupt stop.

"Something wrong?" The Probie asks before casually following Tony's gaze onto the building.

The place seemed normal. It held a big sign on the front with words that said, 'Fresh From Afar Foods'. It was nothing but a simple Grocery store...

So what was the hold up?

"Tony?" McGee questions louder this time, and DiNozzo only shakes his head. "Sorry, Probie. This place just seems a little eerie... don't you think?" He asks with a narrow of his eyes towards the doors. McGee however just snorts. "You afraid to go in?"

With this, Tony turns and glares at McGee. "What kind of man do you take me as?" He scoffs before finally heading into the building.

Once inside though, Tony feels the room drop from the warmth of outside to a couple tenths of degrees colder. He wraps his arms around himself and hurriedly zips up his jacket. "Geez! It feels like the North Pole in here!" He barks before sweeping his gaze around the giant store.

Aisles of food lines the room perfectly, however most of the food was flung off of the shelves and onto the floor below. Cereal boxes, canned goods, meats, veggies, and packages were strewn everywhere. It was a total mess.

"Wow." McGee breathes adjacent to Tony- who still had his arms tightly around his body.

"I know, looks as if a food fight had broken out in here." Tony muses through chattering teeth. The two agents begin slowly making their way farther into the large room; the temperature only seeming to drop more and more.

"D-Did someone like leave the freezer doors open?!" Tony growls while yanking his jacket tighter around himself. McGee however just shrugs before glancing around through the growing shadows. The room was only getting darker as they moved away from the doors and windows.

 _Odd._ He thinks to himself as he then looks upwards to notice that all of the LED lights had been broken- or perhaps shot at.

"Okay.. this is getting rather weird." McGee finally agrees with the Senior Agent now; his eyes trying to capture everything around them as if something were to happen at any given moment.

"Relax. We just have to find the correct aisle that the body is on." Tony suggests as he starts with the first row.

He glances down each dark aisle before finally coming upon aisle number six.

A dark mass lay in the middle of the walkway and instantly he suppresses the slightest of shudders. "Found it." He calls over his shoulder before heading down the lane- McGee right on his heels.

As he approaches the body, he quickly finds that the officer was right.

The dead marine lay in a disfigured stance upon the cold tile floor with nothing but foods and bags of groceries strewn around him. It looked as if he were literally buried alive from nothing but food.

"Okay, this is just sad." Tony mutters as he holds up his camera to snap a pic. McGee makes a face as he comes to stand beside Tony; his stomach turning from the scene before him. "Poor guy. The smell isn't very welcoming either." he agrees before taking some pictures.

Once they finish with their crime scene photos, Tony takes another look at the marine's body position again before coming to a conclusion.

"Look at the way he's literally buried under the food. I mean, I'm getting the feeling like this scene was staged." Tony points out rather skeptically and McGee raises a questionable look to the older agent. "Well how can you be sure?" He asks.

Tony shrugs. "I've seen crime scenes similar to this before. I mean come on, how does one dead guy end up underneath all of this food without a little help?" He shifts his gaze to the empty shelves overhead of the body.

He then kicks a bag of groceries away from the marine's head before squatting down on his knees for any clues or evidence of someone else being here. "Yeah, brings a whole new meaning..." He starts, and McGee glances at him.

"To what?"

"I mean when you've had enough food, you've really had enough..." Tony jokes, though his tone holds no signs of his usual playfulness.

McGee only frowns at the saying but nods.

"Yeah, I don't think he planned on paying for all these groceries by himself." he attempts a chuckle but it doesn't come.

This was going to be one strange case...

* * *

 **A/N: Okay so I've had this story plot in mind for a while and don't worry it really picks up. It's going to get really interesting and I can't wait to continue writing more :)**

 **If you want you can tell me how I'm doing? How good my start was? I'd really appreciate any feedback!**


	2. Motives

**Chapter 2**

* * *

 **A/N: Story is definitely going to get interesting, trust me! Hope you enjoy! :)  
**

Tony and McGee are still trying to figure out what exactly had happened to their dead marine- when suddenly footsteps begin approaching them and this causes for McGee to jump.

He jerks his head in all directions- his hair practically standing on end. "Y-You hear that? Someone's coming." He whispers lowly just before turning to see a figure start its way down their aisle and towards the two of them.

Its too dark to tell who it is at first, so the two agents simply stare at their visitor.

McGee is about to reach for his gun when he immediately comes to recognize the figure of the shape and who it finally is.

Tony looks at McGee with a bored look as he lets out a relieving exhale. "Ohh, its only Ducky." he corrects himself rather awkwardly just as the Medical Examiner comes walking up with a smile.

"Hello, what have we here?" Ducky greets the men as he connects his eyes onto the body.

Tony rises to his feet from where he had been looking for clues before straightening himself. "Dead marine. Don't know the guy's name yet- which is very... odd actually." He then turns to McGee with a rather embarrassing look coming to play on his face. "Take a pic of the man and run it." he demands next- causing for McGee to hurriedly do just that.

He whips out his camera and takes a picture before sending it to Abby. He then goes to grab his finger-print Identification device. He presses the marine's index finger into the scanner before searching the device for any hits.

Tony watches on with newfound content before turning back to Ducky who was now going to squat beside the body.

"Quite a strange place to be shot at, don't you think?" The Senior agent asks as he leans his head back to look up and around the dark ceiling above. Ducky only nods as he begins concentrating on the body at hand.

"My, this seems like an awful situation to have been in." The Scottish man utters his words sorrowfully at the corpse before turning towrds Tony. "How do you suppose it happened?"

With this though Tony only shrugs, his gaze still wavering around the area. "We haven't gotten that far yet. Perhaps there was an intense struggle? A fight maybe?" he suggests before turning and nodding at the heap of food surrounding the body. "But I do think the crime scene was staged."

At this remark, Ducky's eyebrows rise atop of his forehead. "Well there would be no surprise there, my boy." The doctor shifts some of the food off of the body before leaning in to gain a better look at the bullet wounds.

"Shot multiple times in the chest- about four bullet wounds." He concludes before getting out some of his tools from his bag. It only takes a couple of moments before he begins speaking again- his hands working with the liver probe.

"Time of death was around six to seven hours ago." He glances to Tony. "Store must have been closed then when it happened. So obviously something was going on. I-I mean, how did he even get in here last night?" The doctor questions almost practically to himself before getting to his feet and glancing around ominously. The dark store didn't seem to help with the situation.

"Well, I guess I'd better go get the gurney." He huffs before Tony only gives him a frown. "Why not have Palmer do it?" He asks, and Ducky sighs.

"Jimmy is not with me today- due to some unexpected errands he had to run..." he explains rather coldly before just sighing. "I guess I cannot blame the poor boy though. Life sometimes gets in the way with one's career." It is then that Ducky takes his leave, with one last glance towards the body.

Tony watches him go for a moment before going to crouch next to McGee.

"Got Any hits yet? Cause like I cannot wait to get out of here." he growls while taking his cap off and running a hand through his hair. The air still feels piercing cold, and it didn't help that all of the LED lights had mysteriously been put out.

McGee only nods finally as the device begins flashing green as in confirmation of a match. "Yes, got a hit. His name is Lance Corporal Jerry Phax."

* * *

The team returns to NCIS with new stifling questions and theories. How on earth had this man gotten into a grocery store last night; and for what reason? Had he been attempting to steal money or something? No, maybe he was the one trying to stop someone from stealing money?

But in the end, there were hardly any leads to go by- seeming none of the money from the cash registers had been touched.

Nobody seemed to have any answers- so now the field agents were hard at work within the Squadroom; any and every file on the this 'Jerry Phax' being searched urgently.

Meanwhile- Dr. Donald 'Ducky' Mallard begins preparing himself for the autopsy that needed to take place. He shifts himself around the room and picks up a clipboard and a pen. He then makes his way over towards the metal slab where Lance Corporal Phax now lay upon. The corpse was lifeless and stiff as stone.

Ducky sighs at the dead marine before setting his clipboard and pen down upon the slab next to the body.

His mind was churning upon the situation.

What had this marine gone through before his demise?

 _Perhaps we can find some answers to this utterly strange case._ He thinks to himself as he slips on his latex gloves.

He gets his utensils and tools in order before finally slipping his facial cover on.

He lets out a small friendly chuckle. "Don't you worry my dear friend. This will all be over soon." He assures as he picks up his scalpel.

He slowly begins cutting into the body- his brain instantly going onto 'talk' mode. "Now, for some odd reason, I cannot quite understand as to what you were doing inside of that grocery store last night." He begins. "I mean, if you needed something urgent from the store, why not go to a nearby drug store or wait till morning?" He asks- his eyes on his work.

As usual, Ducky receives no verbal answers, but soon perhaps he would find something physical that would help Team Gibbs with the case.

"So, had you been planning to pay for all of that food that you were buried under, my dear boy? Or was there someone else there with you?" He questions slowly.

...

"Jerry Phax; _that_ is the guy who managed to get buried alive by food." Tony announces for all to hear within the bullpen, a picture of the marine going up onto the plasma so that everyone could get a good look at the man.

Ziva however frowns at Tony's remark. _He had been shot at- not buried alive._ She retorts within her head.

She blinks at the photo a few times from where she sits before adding, "We know he was born in 1976 and has no children."

McGee then holds a file up from at his desk. "He does have a wife though. And her name is Rebecca Phax." He remarks before turning his attention back to Tony. "So... any ideas on how he ended up dead in a local Grocery store?" The Probie questions- his mind blank at the moment for any possibilities.

Tony bites his tongue as he ponders hard. There were really no explanations on this one...

Ziva is also stumped and she puckers her lips while she thinks- nothing coming to mind.

"Well, we certainly need to go pick up the wife." She then advises, her eyes going back onto McGee. "I mean, she could be involved like some of our previous cases." She comments, and Tony agrees with a vigorous nod. "Oh yes. It's always the spouse." He leans back with an expecting look and McGee rolls his eyes at the senior agent just as Gibbs comes strutting into the room.

"What do we got?" He snaps, his blue eyes going from one agent to the next.

Everyone is silent for a moment- for there wasn't much to tell Gibbs concerning their ongoing case.

"W-Well boss, we were just going to go pick up Mr. Phax's wife; see if she has anything to hide." McGee finally informs their awaiting boss; and Gibbs then starts heading for his gun within his desk.

McGee furrows his eyebrows at this. "Y-You going somewhere?"

And with this, Gibbs straightens to his full height with an unamused look. "I'm coming with ya, McGee! I'm driving. Now, Let's go." He wiggles his finger at the Probie before heading for the elevator.

McGee is at a loss for a moment before he hurriedly grabs his things. He then rushes to catch up with Gibbs- the other two watching him go.

Once the doors slide close however, Tony and Ziva are left in silence.

Tony blinks at his partner before simply clearing his throat. "So uh... any other leads?" He questions hopefully and Ziva just shrugs. "No. But I am going to go through his recent phone calls within the past few days."

As the Israeli goes to begin typing on her computer- suddenly her desk phone rings.

She glances at the phone, and then to Tony before going to pick up the call.

"David." She answers.

Tony leans forward within his seat; curiosity on whom it was coming to settle upon him.

However, once Ziva has finished the call, she sighs before hanging up- her eyes meeting Tony's again. "Abby needs us to come down and sort through evidence." She huffs, and the male agent gawks at the news.

"What? But we don't even have a good lead yet! We need to be up here?" Tony questions with a frown. He really didn't want to go downstairs and sift through nothing but food and groceries for evidence.

"Besides, isn't that really more of a job for her to do?" He adds.

"Well Tony, she says there is a lot to do and she needs the help. Clearly we are to go." Ziva responds with a curt nod as she then rises from her desk. She heads for the elevator- Tony slowly dragging behind her.

"Ugggh. This is going to be one long case. I-I mean, who DIES in a grocery store for crying out loud?" Tony scoffs disbelievingly as the elevator takes them down to the evidence garage.

Ziva crosses her arms and gives an estranged expression towards his remark. She hated admitting things to Tony, but for once he seemed right. How did the murder go down?

 _Guess we are going to figure that part out._ She tells herself.

The two agents hop off of the elevator and enter into the evidence garage within moments. Upon arriving, Ziva's eyebrows raise up and Tony's jaw goes agape.

Piles of food and edible items littered the room- evidence bags everywhere with one frantic looking Abby trying to shift through it all in one motion.

She held a sharpie in her mouth as she rummages through the many food items and grocery bags. Just as Ziva had said, she really did need the help.

"Whoa! Abby! What's going on?" Tony finally calls to the girl, her pigtails flailing as she turns to look at the two arriving helpers.

She hurriedly takes the sharpie pen from her mouth and gives a frustrated sigh. "Ohh! I'm so glad you two are here!" She then motions to the piles of canned food, veggies, and other assortments one would typically find at a local grocery store that were surrounding her feet. "I have been sorting through this stuff for nearly forty minutes already! I mean, just look at all of this!" She flails her arms as she trudges through the food and over towards the two onlookers.

"Wow... that is a lot of evidence." Ziva breathes; seriously not looking forward to helping sift through it.

"Yeah, I know! But Gibbs said that it all had to be bagged and tagged for evidence!" Abby throws her arms out in an exasperated motion leaving Tony to only stare at her- his eyes wide.

"W-Well, we'd love to stay and help but-" he begins to slowly gesture towards the elevator, however, Abby grasps at his arm and gives him a death look. "You are not leaving me here with this mess, mister DiNozzo!" She growls, before then looking to Ziva for her comply.

The Israeli only sighs though. She didn't want to be doing this.

 _But if Gibbs said so. Perhaps we should stay and help Abby._ She tells herself forcefully- though she'd probably regret every minute of it.

"We will stay and help." She finally decides with a look towards her partner. "Right, Tony?" She grins at him and the senior agent just sags his shoulders.

"Fine!" He groans, causing for Abby to instantly break out into a smile. "Oh, thanks guys super much! Here, just start by grabbing some evidence bags and placing something in it. Check for anything on the item like perhaps a smudgy fingerprint or whatnot and then log it down with a sharpie. I'll do the rest." She instructs.

Tony and Ziva only exchange a look of dread before going to grab some evidence bags.

 _Can't believe we gotta do this! We're supposed to be finding Gibbs another lead..._ Tony groans within his head. At the same time though, he didn't want to simply leave Abby with all of this work to do.

 _Guess we're stuck here for a good while._ He asserts himself as he bends down to pick up his first piece of un-tagged evidence.

He examines the can of beans he now held before throwing it into a bag and writing 'Can O' Beans' on the back with a small playful smile. At least he wouldn't have to be the one to run every item through Abby's AFIS or whatever she did... now THAT would be terrible.

Suddenly though, Abby turns towards Tony and Ziva again; a guilty look coming to settle within her green eyes. "Oh.. one more thing I forgot to mention." She begins with a waver of her gaze towards the two agents.

Ziva crosses her arms now and raises an eyebrow. "Yes?"

Abby swallows hard. "At some point today, you guys are gonna have to go back to the crime scene and collect some more evidence for me..." She mutters lowly, and Tony's head whirls in bewilderment.

"MORE evidence? Isn't this _enough?_ " He gapes.

Abby only sighs though. "No... Gibbs wants every piece of evidence bagged and tagged before sometime tomorrow. And we couldn't fit it all in one load." She explains before casually faltering back into a smile. "But, look on the bright side! You may have a chance at finding something you missed back at the scene!"

 **A/N: Sorry for not being able to post sooner- but I can't wait to move further into the story! Hope everything is good and I hope you enjoy! It's going to only get more interesting from here on...**


	3. Strange Things

**Chapter 3**

* * *

 **A/N: Case is getting strange. Can the team find a lead? Hope everyone enjoys finding out!  
**

Down in autopsy, Ducky continues on with his famous stories of the past with Jerry Phax- the dead marine. "-And so I said, 'Be it your way old boy' and before he had a chance to answer he slipped back! Like so! And the next thing you know-" Ducky is rambling on and on about his days in Scotland Yard and the British Army years of his life when suddenly he stops abruptly mid-sentence.

His voice catches in his throat and he steps back a bit from the body, his eyebrows raising atop of his forehead.

"My... What do we have here?" He mutters to himself before going to grab a magnifying glass off of his nearby table stand. He holds up Lance Corporal's stiff hand and examines the skin tissue more closely before blinking a couple times.

"How could I have missed it?" Ducky scoffs at himself at last before shuffling to the other side of the body to take a look at the marine's other hand.

He peers peculiarly at the skin tissues yet again before coming to a conclusion.

 _Perhaps... our dear Jerry Phax was not killed by his shots to the chest._ He thinks incredulously. For further proof of this, he goes to look at the victim's heart and studies it before reaching a vital fact to the case; there had been a lack of blood flow during this marine's 'supposed' demise. His heart had already stopped beating before the shots had been fired.

 _As I had correctly presumed before... this marine was most certainly not killed by his bullet wounds._ He shakes his head before looking to the dead Jerry's face.

A silence falls over the room for a few moments before the doctor finally speaks.

"Someone killed you, before you were shot my dear boy.." He breathes revealingly before going back to study the hands again.

This was getting very odd. Ducky didn't quite know what to make of the situation. The marine had been dead before the shots were taken?

"What exactly killed you then my dear friend?" The doctor questions before pinching some skin samples off of the fingertips and dropping them into an evidence jar. The skin around the marine's hands were rough and seemed to be coated with something unusual that had damaged the top layer of skin cells.

Something had definitely happened to this marine... but what?

"I need to speak with Jethro. And then get this stuff looked at by Ms. Sciuto. Don't worry though, I shall return." he promises his rather mute friend before heading for the phone; his heart-rate already beginning to slowly rise at his findings.

 _I must inform everyone about this. We've got a bigger story on our hands than we had previously thought!_

* * *

"I _cannot_ believe this." Tony grumbles at his partner as he throws another simple potato into an evidence bag before rashly scribbling down words on the back of the bag.

They had been bagging nothing but groceries! What were they? Salesmen or something?

Ziva rolls her eyes at him, though she continues at her work with just as much annoyance. She hated to be down here. They really needed to get back upstairs and find Gibbs an actual lead on this strange case.

Abby, who had stopped sorting through evidence a while back, was now loading the bags into large containers that she'd have to take up to her lab and examine.

She turns to the two groaning agents before smiling. "You guys are almost done? So, why the gloomy looks?" She asks with a cock of her head.

Tony gives the Goth a look, and is about to reply that he had completely had enough of this bagging and tagging- when suddenly he bites back a small grunt before going to scratch at the inside of one of his hands.

Both Ziva and Abby turn their attentions onto him as the agent simply relieves his sudden itch before looking up in a rather awkward manner.

"Something wrong, Tony?" Ziva questions with a lift of one eyebrow at him; a look of amusement playing in her dark eyes.

The girls were just staring at him as the Senior agent only smiles before shrugging. "Just an itch. Sorry." he mutters; but not before examining his hand more closely.

 _Geez._ He thinks to himself. The itch had been so sudden- and had almost even hurt a little... though, he'd never admit it.

"So um, Abby... I think we have kept our end of the deal with you. We have helped you majorly, yes?" Ziva now begins with a rather short glance towards the elevator. She was dying to get out of here.

Abby doesn't miss Ziva's longing look towards the elevator before she just sighs. "Okay. You know what? You two _have_ been really helpful." She agrees, and this causes for both Ziva and Tony to exchange a rather thrilling look with one another.

Perhaps they could get out of here.

"Yes, and we do need to get back to work." The Israeli agent only further pushes her opinion with a small smile. Tony is at her side and giving a vigorous nod on the subject; his horrid itch completely forgotten already.

"Oh, I couldn't agree with you guys more!" Abby explains before casually biting her lip. "B-But, I still need someone to go back and collect the rest of the evidence from the crime scene for me..." She then admits with a trying look.

Tony only throws his head back to let out a dramatic wail. He didn't want to go back to that freezing grocery store!

"Ugggh, but Abby!" He whines with a clench of his teeth.

The forensic scientist however only places her hands on her hips. "Hey it's not _my_ orders. It's Gibbs'. Now I suggest you go do what he says, because I have to stay here and start running everything for prints!" She gives the complaining agent a point of her finger before returning back to the many evidence bags that were lined in front of her.

Ziva is still staring at Abby with unsettling aggravation for the position they had just been placed in. They were really supposed to go collect some more evidence?

 _With all of the junk we already have- I think we're okay..._ She thinks irritably within her head. But still, she couldn't bring herself to question Gibbs. He has been an agent far longer than she has.

She crosses her arms before turning to look at her partner. She knew that they were going to have to do this- whether they liked it or not.

"Come on Tony. Let's go get this over with." She suggests at last with a slight curl of her fists. She practically felt the need to hit something at the moment and let off some of her steam.

"What?! We're really going?" Tony groans, but Ziva only gives him a hard look. "Yes! We need to listen to Gibbs. Who knows? Maybe Abby is right and we may find something that we missed the first time." She explains- though she held her doubts thoroughly.

Finally the exasperated man just gives in and he throws his hands in the air. "Fine."

He turns and yells 'good-bye' to Abby before heading for the elevator. He glances to Ziva once the doors slide shut and exhales loudly. This was going to get interested.

...

"But Tony, you always drive!" The dark-haired Israeli complains with a furrow of her eyebrows. They were on their way to the car now and Ziva hated having to constantly be placed as the passenger. Tony however only shrugs with a jingle of the keys. "That's because I'm pulling rank!" he flashes back at her as they are approaching their government issued Charger.

Ziva gives a growl before roughly rolling her eyes.

 _You are always going to be senior agent. And you are always going to pull rank Tony..._ She grumbles within her head. She slides her gaze onto him as he heads for the driver's side of the car- a smug look on his face.

She wouldn't drop her argument so easily though.

 _I want to drive._ She tells herself before instantly thinking of the best way to get what she wanted. But how could she get those keys? Tony would always simply revert back to his rank!

Suddenly though, her lips pull into a devious smirk- as she instantly comes up with a sporting plan.

She knew how to get her way. Heck, she knew how to get to _him._

She casually slips into the passenger side seat before turning towards her partner; his focus on starting the car and getting things going.

She lays a hand on his arm though and this instantly snaps his attention onto her- his green eyes searching hers as to what she were getting herself into.

"Yes? What is it?" he questions, his face forming a slow frown at her.

She conceals the smile that threatens to escape her lips before simply casting her partner a disappointed look. She throws him her large eyes and whispers, "But Tony, I would really like to drive."

At this, Anthony DiNozzo is at a loss for words or even actions. What on earth was she playing?

 _Oh geez. She's gonna really pull this one on me?_ He feels like ripping his arm away from her but her large, delicate, brown eyes only cause him to stiffen.

"Please?" She whines in a soothing tone before holding out her hand and she bats her eyes at him longingly.

He sighs. He knew he was beat the moment she had started her act. How could he say no to her? Besides, it was only driving?

 _What a sucker I am..._ He thinks harshly, and curses himself for being so easy.

"Whatever! Fine! Just stop!" He groans before shoving the keys into her hands.

Upon immediately receiving what she had been wanting, Ziva straightens and stops with her act before flashing him a triumphant smirk. "Thank you Tony. Now move over if you will." She giggles before jumping out to switch places with her partner.

Tony only scowls before hopping into the passenger side seat.

 _Oh right, just play Little Miss Innocent against me until you get what you want. What a diva._ He thinks incredulously as the Israeli starts the car and pulls out. They were finally on their way.

"Oh come on Tony. You know I do not mean it." Ziva voices once she's on the road, and she shifts with excitement for being at the wheel again. It has been a while.

Tony only runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "Whatever. Next time just hit me or something- and I'll know." he chuckles and this causes for Ziva to return the chuckle.

After a few moments of passing silence however, it is then that Ziva looks over at her partner with slight concern and asks, "So what was wrong with your hand earlier?"

Tony instantly snaps his gaze onto his hand and rubs it against his jeans as if to avoid a possible return of the sensation. "Oh, it was just an itch." He tries to assure her, but Ziva only frowns.

"Quite an itch then I guess, because you almost sounded in pain for a moment." She reminds him, and Tony only scoffs. "Me? In pain?"

It is then though that Ziva glances towards Tony before simply admitting, "Well to be honest my hands had begun to itch before we had gotten to the car. It's sort of weird."

With this, Tony jerks his eyes onto her.

 _Her hands were itching?_ He furrows his brow in a ponderous state.

 _Odd._ He then shrugs. "I don't know what it could possibly be. It's probably nothing though. Are your hands still feeling itchy now?" He goes onto ask.

Ziva blinks and returns her attention back onto the road. "I guess they are alright. I was only worried about what happened to you back at the evidence garage. It is just sort of strange that next my hands started to feel itchy..." She explains and Tony feels a slight unsettling feeling start to creep up his spine.

 _There's no such thing as coincidences._ He reminds himself.

* * *

Ducky snaps his cellphone shut as he rode the elevator down to the evidence garage to inform Abby of his findings. He had just got finished telling Gibbs of what he had found out.

Gibbs hadn't known of what to make of it. Their dead marine hadn't been murdered by the shots to his chest.

No, it seemed to be something more than that.

 _Hopefully Abigail will know might be going on._ Ducky thinks to himself, just as the elevator doors slide open; revealing a rather untidy mess that littered the room.

Ducky gapes for a moment. Was all of this evidence for the same case?

He then spots Abby who is working hard on collecting every evidence bag that were sitting upon the floor.

"Abigail!" Ducky shouts his greeting- as she had a small radio blaring some of her favorite loud music nearby.

Abby quickly looks up and brightens to see Ducky's face. She rushes over towards him- dropping some bags she she did so. "Aww! Hi Ducky! I've been so lonely down here ever since Tony and Ziva left me!" She throws her arms around him before stepping back with an ever radiating smile.

Ducky pats her shoulder before motioning to all of the evidence strewn around the room. "Is all of this suppose to be evidence?" He questions with a slight fixture of his glasses- in case he had been seeing it all wrong.

Abby only sighs in a tiresome manner. "Yep. It's all important to the case. Gibbs wants all of it bagged and tagged into the system before I can run them for prints." She explains and it is then that Ducky changes the subject over onto his findings.

"Abigail, if you don't mind me asking, I would like for you to run some tests on a substance I think I have found around our dead marine's hands." He holds up his small evidence jar with the skin samples inside.

Abby looks at him thoroughly before taking the jar and peering into it curiously. "What do you think it is?" She asks.

Ducky exhales at this question. "Well I have found out that our Lance Corporal did **not** in fact die of his bullet wounds." He explains and Abby drags her attention off of the small jar and onto him.

"What? Wow. Then what did he die of?" She cocks her head to one side.

Ducky holds up a finger. "I'm not finished with my findings just yet. But I do have a feeling that there is much more to this marine than what meets the eye."

A small anxious feeling comes to settle upon the two within the room. Abby then just glances back at her many bags of evidence before shrugging. "I can come back to the evidence if you want. In fact, I can go run this now and find out what it is." She suggests hopefully- as if aiming to appease the worried look that Ducky had began to give her.

"That perhaps would be best Abigail."

 **A/N: It's getting interesting! Any ideas on to what this might be? Perhaps it's getting to be clear for some of you!**

 **Can't wait to write more! And thank you for the reviews! Really encouraging :)**


	4. Answers

**Chapter 4**

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, so sorry for not being able to update for a few days. I promise though that I will find more time to write! And hey, the story is picking up- hopefully the agents will come to some sort of finding this time! Hope you enjoy! Thanks for the small wait!  
**

Gibbs struts into the squadroom with McGee at his heels. He had gotten Ducky's call only about ten minutes ago and he had already began wondering what was up. He needed answers and he needed them now.

"McGee, I want you to talk to Mr. Phax's wife. See what she knows. I'm going to go check with Duck and Abs." He asserts, before heading back towards the elevator again.

McGee watches him go before heading towards his desk.

 _Great. I really didn't want to be the one interrogating this Rebecca Phax woman.._ He thinks mildly to himself. He then glances towards Tony and Ziva's desks.

Huh.

 _Now where have they gone?_ He questions.

Perhaps they found another lead?

Who knows.

He pushes his chair into his desk before making his way towards the interrogation rooms. Time for some answers.

* * *

"Duck, what do you-" Gibbs begins as he practically leaps into autopsy with curiosity buzzing through his head for vital answers- except he is cut short at the loss of his friend from the room.

Ducky was not in autopsy.

 _Hmm._ Gibbs then turns on his heel and takes the elevator to Abby's lab.

Once the doors slide open, he hurries into her room where oddly enough there was no music playing loudly.

Something was definitely up.

His eyes however does come to finally meet both Abby and Ducky; their figures practically shoulder to shoulder as they stood in front of one of Abby's machines as if on edge for some sort of explanation.

Within moments Abby's head looks up at her newest visitor. "Gibbs!" She greets before rushing towards him for a usual hug.

Ducky now raises his head as well and gives an acknowledging nod towards his friend. "Jethro, you've managed to arrive just in time." He beckons Gibbs over with a hand before turning back towards Abby's machine.

"Duck, what's going on?" Gibbs questions as he comes to stand by his Scottish friend- with Abby at his side.

"Well, Ducky found some of this stuff on our dead Lance Corporal's hands. And he wanted me to run it, so now we're waiting for my Major Mass Spec to finish analyzing the substance so that we know what we're exactly dealing with." Abby explains hurriedly, before adding, "And I WILL get back to the evidence downstairs... it's just that Ducky really wanted me to-" She's cut off though from her rambling by Gibbs.

"Hey, so what is going on?" He asks again- clearly not understanding the situation at hand.

Ducky takes the wheel this time and exhales. "Well I was going through with the autopsy rather casually, until I noticed this substance upon our dead marine's hands Jethro. I mean, I don't know what is it or what it might be just yet, but my guess is that this stuff is perhaps the reason for our marine's demise." He concludes with a firm nod and at this Gibbs frowns before shifting on his feet.

It was a lot to take in.

"Wait, so you're telling me that our guy didn't die from gunshot wounds?" Gibbs questions next, his eyes stern.

Ducky only gives a mutual nod in reply.

It is then when finally Abby's Major Mass Spec gives a loud blaring beep.

Abby is instantly at the machine's side and is practically coddling it. "See? See how fast he decides to work with an audience, guys?" Abby grins while Ducky and Gibbs just stare at her. She then lets her smile fall before turning towards the machine.

"Might we know what we've found my dear?" Ducky asks rather impatiently as Abby simply goes to view the results finally.

She nods before turning to her computers next and she hurriedly busies herself away with typing. Gibbs and Ducky shift into a better viewing position before sharing a glance with one another.

They were about to finally get some answers.

* * *

McGee lets out a rather bothersome sigh as he grips the door handle to the interrogation room where Rebecca Phax awaited him. He needed to make this smooth and perhaps gain some answers from her because Gibbs did not seem too happy earlier...

 _We could all use some real answers here._ He tells himself pensively.

He takes one more deep breath before finally opening the door. A confused and rather worried looking Rebecca Phax sits painfully erect within her chair; her eyes gleaming with fear.

"W-What's going on? Where is Jerry? Did something happen to him?" She immediately begins vomiting up questions at McGee and the Probie just gives her a look as he takes a seat within the authoritative chair across from her.

"My name is Special Agent Timothy McGee, and I am-" McGee tries to introduce himself slowly, not wanting to frighten the woman at any cost, but Rebecca only cuts him off- her voice taut with arising dismay.

"No, I want to know what I am doing here sir. Please, what is this about?" She snaps and McGee could tell that she was on the brink of tears- her voice cracking between words.

 _For goodness sake, she needs to cool down._ McGee thinks rather irritably. They were never going to get anywhere with her cutting him off like she did.

"Hey, I am here to help, Mrs. Phax. Just calm down." McGee assures her and the woman sniffles a bit, glancing around rather awkwardly. She tries to get herself together before glancing back at her questioner.

"Well, what am I doing in here?" She finally steadies her voice and McGee feels a small sense of relief wash over him.

Rebecca had red-brown hair that came down to her shoulders and large hazel eyes. She still seemed like she were about to break out into tears at any given second and she wasn't even too appealing to look at. She didn't look like much of a suspect...

 _Could she really have murdered her own husband? Her?_ McGee thinks to himself in much disbelief.

He then just shakes his head of his thoughts and forces himself to focus on the interrogation. "So, um, Mrs. Phax, when was the last time you saw your husband?" He sets the role with his first question and this causes for Rebecca to shake a little- perhaps out of her being so upset.

"I-I saw him yesterday evening. That's when I last saw him..." She trails off as if deep in thought and McGee is staring at her. "Anything else? More details? Like, what time exactly?" He asks firmly.

The woman gapes for a moment before shrugging. "Around three? Three in the afternoon I think?" She begins stuttering a bit and McGee starts to feel a little impatient.

 _This is going nowhere._ He thinks before writing down the time she had given him upon a small notepad.

 _Keep calm Tim._

He then returns his gaze onto her. "You are aware that your husband is..." He bravely tries to inform her of her loss but he can't pull himself to do it. How could she not have already known though? If this were true of her not knowing, then perhaps she really wasn't the suspect.

Rebecca stiffens and her eyes harden now, clearly she held a sense of what was going on. "Is Jerry alright? Is he missing? D-Don't tell me he's dead..." She practically chokes out her last words before turning to look at the wall to her left.

McGee bites his tongue simply before nodding slowly. "H-he was found... _dead_ this morning in a grocery store named 'Foods Fresh From Afar'." McGee finally releases the info, and immediately Rebecca lets out a startling gasp.

"Foods Fresh From Afar?! What?! Jerry is dead?!" She obviously is familiar with the store. "B-But I always shop there!" She wheezes, as if her whole life has been a lie or something...

"Yes. I am sorry for your loss. I-" McGee tries to console her but she places a hand to her mouth and begins to sob.

She groans in agony while staring at the table- her expression going emotionless.

With this though, McGee has finally had enough.

He rises to his feet and gives her a look. "Mrs. Phax we need your cooperation to help catch whoever may have murdered your husband." He explains with a rather small voice. He didn't feel right exactly yelling at someone who was only crying over someone they had lost.

 _I can't handle this..._ McGee concludes, and with this he heads for the door- leaving one sobbing Rebecca Phax to sit in the interrogation room alone.

Once the door closes behind him though he sighs. He looks at his notepad to see that he only had one piece of info written down.

 _Gibbs is gonna kill me._ He thinks wretchedly. However, he had at least found something out throughout his time with Mrs. Phax.

 _She obviously didn't kill her own husband..._ He decides simply before heading off down the hallway. Perhaps someone else like Tony could get more out of the woman later on. As of now? McGee was finished with her.

* * *

Ziva yanks the car to a halt before gladly shifting into park. They had finally made it back to the grocery store where the murder had taken place at. Beside her, Tony whips his door open and leaps out into the open air before stretching wildly- his head tipping back to let out a dramatic yell. "I lived! I can't believe it!" He screeches before casting her a look.

Ziva only smirks before going around to the trunk to gather their things.

"This is going to be fun..." Tony mutters as he comes to stand beside her; his arms reaching for his backpack.

Ziva rolls her eyes and scoffs. "It seriously cannot be that bad for you, can it?"

Tony only blinks at her before zipping up his NCIS jacket. "Yes actually, it is! It's freezing in there, if you hadn't noticed!" He grits his teeth before turning his gaze towards the grocery store. All was quiet- except for the occasional drive by of a car.

Ziva closes the trunk once they have retrieved all that they needed before locking the car and shoving the keys into her back pocket.

She leads the way towards the building- the place where the strange murder had taken place at.

Tony follows rather hesitantly on her heels, his arms already wrapping themselves around his body to brace himself against the cold air that would soon hit his skin.

The Israeli goes for the door before pulling it open- her eyes darting into the large open room.

Just like last time, the grocery store is dark with no lights illuminating their way. And of course, Ziva instantly feels the blast of cold air come and bite at her face; her eyes going to her partner's.

"This place..." She trails off and Tony only nods- completely understanding her attempt to explain herself.

"Very creepy and ominously chilling? Yeah, I picked that up the first time I was here with McGee." He grimaces before stepping all the way into the building.

He whips out a flashlight this time- his preparedness causing for him to loosen a small smile for a moment.

Ziva follows him directly at his side, their arms practically touching as they advance into the large food store.

Nothing but the sounds of their footsteps echoes off of the walls- and both of the agents' eyes are darting every which way.

Ziva pauses in her movement for a moment before whispering, "So, which aisle are we going for?"

Tony looks to his partner before responding. "Well the murder was on aisle six." He remarks, and this causes for Ziva's eyes to glance towards the numbers that loomed above each aisle. She sets her gaze to six before heading towards it, Tony at her heels.

"Actually Ziva, perhaps Gibbs wants us to check the perimeter too. Maybe we should inspect every aisle while we're here. Make sure nothing was missed." The senior agent suggests rather thoughtfully and Ziva only nods before peering down aisle six. Darkness made it hard for her to see, so she immediately grabs her own flashlight from her pack before shining it down the walkway.

As Abby had previously mentioned, food still lined the aisle in every direction. Obviously this was the evidence that needed to be collected.

"Okay, so should we go back and try aisle one?" Ziva asks before turning to shine her flashlight at Tony. He squints at the light before just giving a nod.

Ziva begins heading back over towards the first food aisle when suddenly there comes a noise- followed by a quick grunt.

A heavy object had fallen close by, causing for the loud clamor to echo off of the walls.

Ziva nearly bolts before jerking on her heels towards Tony, her mind whirling on the possibilities of what was going on.

"Tony?" She gapes. Her sudden adrenaline for the noise however vanishes as she notices her partner gripping at his hand. His flashlight was on the ground- its light blinking as if threatening to go out.

"Tony, what's wrong?" Ziva questions quickly. She breathes a sigh of relief as she comes to realize that the sound had only been Tony dropping his flashlight though.

She walks back towards the agent before becoming overwhelmed with uneasiness at his frowning face. Something was wrong.

"Tony? What is it?" She asks again before going to pick up his flashlight for him, her eyes gluing to her partner.

Tony only stutters before finally grunting again- his attention all for his hands. "I-I'm itching again Zi... Badly!" He admits at last, before going to scratch at his skin. Ziva furrows her eyebrows out of worry for him before going to examine his peculiar hands. She shines the flashlight at him hurriedly.

 _What is going on...?_ She tries to calm herself but she cannot and she lets out a small gasp at what she finds.

Fear edges its way into her emotions as she notices Tony's hands were beginning to swell a little. They also looked rather red.

Ziva frowns and Tony only continues scratching his itch, bewilderment clouding both of their eyes. "Tony?! What's happening to you?!"

* * *

"What does it say, Abs?" Gibbs asks in a rather demanding tone. It had taken the girl some time to sort through the specific atom types involving the substance but now she was ready to introduce Ducky's findings to everyone.

"Okay so... if I am correct, this stuff seems to be..." She trails off as her computer finds a match as to what the substance is and she blinks at the screen.

"It's... a type of poison." She finally concludes, and both Gibbs and Ducky shift forward a bit so that they can get a better look.

"Oh, this is some nasty stuff." She remarks before going to continue, her voice shaking a little. "First off, I found some urushiol in the substance. It's like a highly allergenic toxin like whats found in poison ivy." She pauses before going on. "Other contents contain sap of the Manchineel tree as well as some extracts of the oleander plant. Both plants are deadly toxic and can sometimes be lethal if ingested or touched." She finishes her explanation, her eyes growing wide. "T-This is a major mixture of some deadly toxins guys. I mean, goodness!" She breathes as she then turns to Ducky, her heart-rate racing.

"So, do you think this is how he died?" She asks horrendously, and Ducky gives a steady nod. "Well, I'll have to prove my beliefs with the rest of the autopsy; however, I did find that the man's heart had stopped beating sincerely before the bullets were fired." Ducky explains with another glance at Abby's computer screen.

"Yeah? So what was this stuff doing on our marine's hands?" Gibbs states, his eyes fixing on Abby and then onto Ducky.

Abby bites her lip and Ducky only shrugs. "Well beats me Jethro. Perhaps he touched something that already held the poisonous substance on it?" The doctor tries to theorize appropriately but Gibbs wasn't in to assuming. He wanted real answers.

He exhales before looking to Abby again- the new info causing for the gears in his head to churn.

 _Poison? Really?_ He shakes his head before shifting on his feet.

"Abs, get back to working with the evidence- call me if you find something." He demands, and Abby gives him a worrying look. "Yes Sir." She tries a small salute before slowly heading for the door. Gibbs however frowns before adding, "And make sure this stuff isn't on any of the evidence!"

This causes for Abby to stop dead in her tracks though.

 _The evidence._

The dead marine had been handling the food items- therefore the stuff _had_ to be on some of the evidence downstairs...

Her heart practically skips a beat as she suddenly thinks back to Tony and Ziva.

 _I-I had asked for them to help with the evidence... but had they been wearing any gloves?!_

Her mind is reeling now. She needed to remember- or Tony and Ziva could be in dire danger!

Gibbs all the while turns to Ducky as Abby is still pondering madly- neither of the men thinking nothing of her hesitant presence. "Hopefully whatever this guy was touching won't be consistent to what we've been dealing with, right?" Gibbs tries to gain some light on the dire subject but all Ducky can do is give him a look.

"Well, all I can think to suggest is for everyone to use gloves? I mean, I don't know where he had exactly gotten the substance... let's just hope we find out soon enough before any one of us touches the item that holds the deadly toxic."

It all made much more sense to Ducky though. His preliminary thinking had been correct. The marine had _not_ in fact died of the gunshot wounds.

 _I need to get back to the body and see if I can uncover anything else that may be of use for us._ And just at Ducky's final thoughts, Abby jerks her body back around and into the lab again- her eyes frantic and her heart racing.

"G-Guys!" She yells, and both Gibbs and Ducky instantly look to her.

"What is it, Abs?"

The Goth is trying to find the right words. She had practically placed her teammates in danger!

"T-Tony and Ziva! They helped me earlier today with sorting through the evidence!" She tries to explain, but neither Ducky nor Gibbs was catching on.

"And...?" Ducky raises an eyebrow. "Look Abigail, as long as nobody 'touches' the items with the toxin on-" but Abby cuts the doctor off.

"I-I can't exactly recall the two going to put on gloves! I think they touched the evidence!"

 **A/N: Finally! Found the time to write! And I made sure to make it a long chapter! Sorry for the wait!**

 **Interesting though, right? Yes, it was poison. And now the team is in a sticky situation :) What will happen to Tony and Ziva?**


	5. Protocol

**Chapter 5**

* * *

 **A/N: Another chapter! Sorry for the wait :) Can't wait to write more! Also: *Small spoiler* _Yes, I am aware that putting gloves on before handling evidence is protocol_ and this is not what happened. Abby is simply jumping to conclusions. Sorry for any misleading assumptions. Other than that, please Enjoy! And Thank you for the reviews! Love the feedback!  
**

Both Gibbs and Ducky stare at their forensic scientist who now looks ready to burst into sudden tears.

They had only just found out that their dead Lance Corporal had not died from gunshot wounds- but rather a strange poisonous substance that Ducky had thankfully managed to find on the body.

Abby however is feverishly worrying of her friends.

She literally couldn't recall Tony and Ziva putting gloves on before helping her with the evidence earlier today.

 _What if Gibbs is right and the poison is on the food?!_ _ _Maybe they got it on them?!_ What if-! _But Abby is interrupted from her boiling thoughts from a calming Ducky; his voice soothing and comforting. "Abigail, using gloves while handling evidence is protocol. Tony and Ziva are trained agents and they know what they're doing." He tries to assure her. How on earth could she possibly think that _both_ Tony and Ziva made that careless mistake?

"Yeah Abs, calm down. Both my agents aren't new to working cases and heck, if they ever did manage to forget to follow protocols, I'd kick them both off of my team." Gibbs states rather matter-of-factually, which slightly causes for Abby to relax a little.

Gibbs was right- both Tony and Ziva were trained professionals. But how come she feels unsettled on the situation?

"Y-Yeah, but you just never know! I need to know they're okay... I-It's like I'm starting to gain a bad feeling all of a sudden." She throws her arms out as if the world were literally coming to an end. She fully needed verification that Tony and Ziva were okay.

Gibbs and Ducky only exchange glances with each other before Gibbs just shrugs. "Well I'll call them, see where they are and if they're okay." He agrees before simply placing a hand on Abby's shoulder.

"Abs. I need you to focus. We need to figure this case out." He lowers his voice now and Abby finally just exhales with a nod.

"Yes, we cannot let this wretched thinking overtake our optimism. I will see if I can return and find anything else useful from our body." Ducky decides briefly before finally taking his leave.

Abby crosses her arms and lets her gaze fall as Ducky disappears behind the elevator doors. Ducky and Gibbs were right. She needed to get back to work. Perhaps she was worrying over nothing?

 _Nobody is going to get poisoned._ She tells herself inwardly. She then runs a hand through her bangs before looking back to Gibbs. "I have some evidence I need to get back to. You're right. Perhaps... I-I'm just overreacting. But I need to get back to what I do best." She decides with a trying smile at last, and Gibbs slips a small grin at her. "That's my girl."

Though all the while, she still held onto that unsettling feeling within her gut... Hopefully Gibbs and Ducky were both right.

* * *

Tony is itching his hand madly- his skin burning in the process. He had been fine only moments ago before suddenly the onslaught of a crazy itch came barreling onto him. The sensation had been so massive that he had even dropped his flashlight during the event.

He felt ridiculous now as Ziva begins showing signs of worry for him. He didn't need to be fretted over- though he did have major questions as to why he was itching so badly.

 _What is going on with me?_ He thinks incredulously as Ziva examines his hands some more.

"They're looking red Tony! Perhaps we should get you some help?" She suggests urgently but Tony only shakes his head with a grunt. "No. I'm fine, really." he utters the words out as if he were in pain and he curses himself for acting so weak at the moment.

 _Okay, I really need to get it together. It's only an itch!_ He tells himself assertively but Ziva only places her hands to her hips. "Tony, something is wrong with you. You are not fine." She roughly points out, the coldness of the lone grocery store seeping through her clothing and at her skin.

She shivers a bit but continues to hold her firm look at her partner. The freezing dark grocery store was not helping their situation.

Tony however pauses in his scratching to send her his softening eyes. He frowns. The shiver hadn't gone unnoticed by DiNozzo.

 _She's cold._ He acknowledges before going to take off his jacket for her.

Ziva only frowns at the man before her. "What are you doing, now?" She hisses angrily, and Tony only blinks. "Well, you're cold. What kind of man would I be if I didn't take any action to that?" He points out before holding out his jacket to her.

The Israeli rolls her eyes simply before pushing his attempt away. "No! I am fine. You are clearly not. Do not worry about me right now Tony." She demands before looking back at his hands. "We need to make sure you are okay." She insists while Tony only hesitantly places his jacket back around himself.

He frowns as he zips it up again.

He didn't want to deal with this at the moment. He just wanted to continue doing their jobs- what they had come here to do in the first place.

"Look, I am okay. Believe me! Besides, who doesn't gain an annoying itch every now and then, Zi? It's life." He remarks reassuringly but Ziva doesn't buy it.

"Yes. But it has been twice now. Within _one_ day Tony. It happened back at the evidence garage too." She reminds him with a point of her index finger. Tony though only throws his head back to let out a groan. "Let's just _please_ go look around? Please? After we do our job, we can go and get me checked out, alright?" He tries to appease her, and with this Ziva finally just gives in.

She scowls at him though before handing him his flashlight back rather forcefully.

Tony then watches as she storms off, her aggravation in conceding clearly visible.

He struts to catch up with her- not really wanting to get separated within this creepy food store.

He follows her down the first dark aisle, her figure in front of him lit up from his flashlight he now withheld again. The Israeli looks around at the shelves and scattered food items. It seemed peculiar.

None of the aisles were as messy and wrecked as aisle six had been- which was the same aisle that the Lance Corporal had died on.

Tony steps over some boxes of strewn-out cereal before his hands started getting itchy again. In fact, they begin to sting and burn and Tony willfully holds his tongue from letting Ziva catch on to his reoccurring sensation.

 _Keep it together, DiNozzo!_ He demands to himself quietly within his head as he continues after her darkening shape.

He needed to keep up.

But it is only then when suddenly Tony catches the sound of a small whimper escaping Ziva's lips just up ahead. He instantly quickens his pace and furrows his eyebrows.

"Zi?" He shifts in front of the girl- only to find her staring menacingly at her hands; mirroring his actions from earlier.

Tony is baffled and he cocks his head to one side. "Ziva?" He didn't even need to guess. She was gaining an uncanny itch like he had just moments ago.

"T-Tony, I think-" The female agent whimpers between grunts and she continues glaring at her hands before slowly going to itch them. "I think I am undergoing an itch!" She seethes with a small look back towards her partner.

This was insane! What was ailing them?

Tony bites the inside of his cheek with a ponderous look before going to examine her hands now. It was his turn to be concerned.

"Look, I think we both have something serious going on. We need to get out of here and find out what exactly." Ziva simply growls; clearly she feels upset over gaining an annoying itch as Tony did.

Tony however only exhales with a disappointed expression come to surpass his face. "Yeah, but then we'd just have to come back. Why not finish the job while we're already here?" He points out suggestively; though he also cared enough about Ziva to drop everything and go have them checked out.

He didn't like seeing her this way. Something is afflicting his partner and he feels determined to figure out what.

"Tony. If you can state that you are fine- then I am fine too. How about we head over to aisle six where the murder had taken place at, yes?" She tries to bring his mind off of her but he couldn't just go on and pretend that they both were simply 'peachy'. Because they weren't.

Suddenly though, Tony's cellphone begins buzzing in his pocket which causes for both him and Ziva to nearly jump out of their skin.

Tony quickly looks to her before smirking, his hand going for his pocket. "Didn't think I'd see you jump today, Agent David." He chuckles as he grabs at his continuous buzzing phone- his hands still bothering him all the while.

The woman gives him a punch to the shoulder before narrowing her eyes at him. "It was merely a reflex." She mutters, and Tony only rolls his eyes before placing the phone to his ear.

"DiNozzo." He greets- before going back to his scratching.

 _"Hey, DiNozzo. Its Gibbs. Where the heck are you two?"_ The boss's voice is unmistakable.

"Oh we're back at the crime scene to gather more evidence for Abby. She said you wanted that?" He replies back- Ziva giving him a look all the while.

 _"Well get back here as soon as you can. Abby and Ducky think they've found poison on our dead guy's hands."_ At this news, Tony's eyes grow wide. He jerks his attention back to his own hands before simply swallowing hard. He didn't know how to take this.

Could it be possible that he and Ziva were now carriers of this poison?

Could this be why both of their hands were itching...?

"Uh... O-Okay, boss. We'll be heading back shortly." He affirms, and this catches Ziva's attention with the raise of her eyebrows.

 _"Good. And do it now, DiNozzo. I got word that you and Ziva both helped Abby with the evidence today."_

Tony gives a tip of his head to this. He hadn't wanted to help. But so what? It was being nice?

"Yeah. We helped. Why?" He questions back.

Gibbs pauses for a moment before his voice resounds again through the phone.

 _"Abby suspects the poison could have been on the evidence. And she also thinks that you two weren't wearing any gloves while helping her out."_

Now Tony's heart is racing. He feels his mouth fall slowly agape before glancing towards Ziva who only looks on with frustration and confusion to the conversation Tony was having over the phone. Possibilities that poison could have been on the evidence?

His mind is whirling with various questions concerning the situation.

He frowns finally.

 _But... we did wear gloves? _He thinks incredulously to himself. He had specifically put some on before going to help Abby in the evidence garage. It was standard procedure.

And yet, why were he and Ziva acting itchy all of a sudden? Could it be that he and Ziva were susceptible to the poison in some other way? Perhaps this was the answer to their itchiness and swelling hands.

 _"So get back here now! Crime Scene can come later."_ Gibbs' voice brought Tony back from his swarming thoughts and he only frowns harder from sudden frustration on the matter.

He still didn't know what to think.

"B-But boss, me and Ziva did wear gloves." he finally finds his words, before adding, "Who do you think I am? A probie? I _always_ follow protocol boss!"

With this, the bystanding Ziva instantly knew something was up. Why else would Tony start getting worked up? And why was he scowling all of a sudden?

For a moment, Gibbs doesn't reply- leaving Tony to think that perhaps he had already hung up on them, but then his voice returns.

 _"That's just what I thought. I taught my agents better than forgetting to follow protocol. Now get back here DiNozzo."_ He demands, followed by an abrupt hang-up that left the two agents in silence. But what Gibbs didn't know was the fact that Tony and Ziva were experiencing some horrid outbreaks of rashes and itches. What if they had gotten poisoned somehow?

Tony is only still trying to wrap his brain around the new info that he's been given while Ziva frantically returns to scratching her hands again.

"What did Gibbs say?" She asks without looking up; knowing whom Tony was talking to from the way he used the term 'Boss'.

The senior agent is still gawking though. He couldn't believe it. Were he and Ziva possibly poisoned?

It only made sense due to their symptoms that they were showing.

 _Could we... die?_ He questions to himself darkly before turning back to his partner at last. "We need to go. Abby and Ducky found poison on our dead guy." He explains finally, and this causes for Ziva to stop dead with her scratching.

She looks up at him with grave eyes. "What? Tony...? Are you saying that-" She slowly tries to begin putting the pieces together but Tony only finishes her question for her with a brief nod.

"Gibbs thought we might have gotten it from handling evidence today. Abby suspects the poison is on the food." He admits direly and Ziva just blinks repeatedly. "But, we wore latex gloves Tony!" She points out with a glare to her burning hands. "How could we possibly have gotten poisoned while wearing gloves?" She questions quite irritably- and Tony doesn't know how to reply to this. "It makes sense though!" She finally muses with another look towards her hands. Her skin was now showing signs of a rash- a breakout at that, and she nearly feels her breath hitch within her throat. She should have guessed it was poison from the start. Something about them hadn't been right all along and she knew it.

"I told you, Tony! We're probably poisoned!" She gapes, while throwing her arms into the air within a frustrated manner.

"Yeah, okay, you were right. But I was only wanting to do my job, is that so bad?" Tony retorts back before going to itch at his hands again. The sensation wasn't quite evasive anymore. His stinging was beginning to feel persistent and his itchiness was nonstop.

"Auggh! Ziva! It's getting worst!" He admits with a rapid movement of scratches over his thumb and knuckles.

Ziva simply tries to stop her own itching and forces her hands to her sides. "We have to get out of here and back to NCIS." She assures her agonized partner. She begins leading the way back down the dark aisle- her gaze shifting in every which way. She then turns over her shoulder with a question nagging at her thoughts, before simply asking, "So, how did we come to obtain this poison if we wore gloves?"

Tony scoffs from behind before answering. "Uhh... beats me, Zi! How should I know how we got this ridiculous stuff on our hands!" He explains back, and Ziva immediately curses in Hebrew at their critical situation they were in. She hated to be like this. What if they were told to go home or something? She didn't want that! She wanted to help solve this puzzling case!

"But of course! Oh, how could we have been so inattentive Tony! What did we do wrong?" She growls while DiNozzo wants to scoff again. He didn't like it either. After all his years of working with NCIS- not to mention being a cop beforehand. What had caused people to doubt his excellence at following protocols?

 _I swear we wore gloves._ He tells himself angrily. There was no way that he had forgotten.

And yet, even if he believes himself on wearing the gloves, why on earth were he and Ziva both itching so madly?

* * *

"Oh Ducky, _how_ could I have let this happen!?" Abby is wailing with her arms crossed at the entrance door to autopsy. She had managed to take her mind off of the poison situation for only a mere ten minutes. Now it was all she could think about and she couldn't shake it. She needed to talk to someone. Ducky all the while was simply trying to get back to his work.

"My dear Abigail, what is it now? Everything is going to be fine. Now if you will, I have an autopsy to finish." Ducky replies back briefly- though he doesn't fail to hold sympathy within his tone.

The Goth however feels completely guilty. She had been the one to invite Tony and Ziva to help her with the evidence... because of her- Team Gibbs could be in danger.

"I-I just can't take knowing that there's risks going around." She groans, her aggravated gaze falling helplessly to the floor.

"Oh come now. We face risks all of the time? Trust me, if you're still thinking about Tony and Ziva then don't- because they know to wear gloves while handling evidence. And Abigail, a lot of everyday people touch things like poison ivy. And that's poisonous, is it not?" Ducky tries to find some hope to this rather dire situation. He didn't know what else to tell the poor girl.

"Yeah? But like, this substance is different! It has a mixture of _three_ different types of poison! Three Ducky! I-I mean its like a ten times greater urushiol oil!" She stamps her foot on the ground with a flail of her arms. She felt completely bewildered to this horrid case. Who would even _want_ to make a deadly toxic made out of three poisons together? She just couldn't understand the crazy people within the world today...

Ducky only exhales before calmly turning to face her again. "Well the least thing we can do now is to be hopeful about things, my dear. We cannot just assume that this stuff is lethal right on contact, right? Isn't there like some form of an antidote you could whip up- in case perhaps one of us accidentally does come in contact with this vile substance?" He suggests optimistically. At lease this would get her mind off of things...

Abby crosses her arms again before holding a ponderous look. "Yes. I could probably find a way to create an antidote." She mumbles slowly, and Ducky just gives her a brightening smile. "There you go!" He muses.

She sighs before finally nodding. "I-I'm sorry Ducky. I just feel really worried about this strange and very weird case... I mean, does Gibbs even have a suspect yet?" She begins throwing her questions out again, thoroughly wanting this nightmare to come to end and all the while Ducky feels like giving a frustrated exhale but he does not.

"I do not know what kind of leads Jethro is following at the moment, but how about you go do something useful for the case? Perhaps you could even make that antidote? You know, in case something does happen. But standing around and thinking about this all day won't do any one of us any good. We must be positive, Abigail." He explains thoroughly before finally turning back to his long-awaited corpse. Jerry Phax was right where he had left him earlier.

 _Perhaps you're capable of more answers, Mr. Phax?_ The Scottish doctor thinks to himself just as Abby decides to take her leave. She takes the elevator to her lab and sighs as she hops out and walks back into her room.

Ducky is right though. And she knew this. She would force herself to calm down.

She needed to focus on other important things than what 'could' happen to her friends.

She hurriedly zips for her computer now to search up and learn more about this urushiol poison. She'd create an antidote. She had to- just to be on the safe side.

 _Let's just hope we can catch this crazy killer in time before another victim falls prey to this poisonous substance..._

But then a dark thought occurs to her and she pauses in her work for just a moment.

 _What if... our killer has more of this stuff?  
_

* * *

McGee was working at his desk when he had received the news. Abby thinks that Tony and Ziva were possibly poisoned?

This case couldn't get any more stranger to the young agent. He had only managed to stare at Gibbs with disbelief at the horrific assumptions going around. But as always, Gibbs didn't like assumptions. No, he wanted real answers to this puzzling case.

"So, you got _nothing_ out of that woman?" Gibbs is asking the Probie now with a dreaded look in his piercing blue eyes- his hands atop McGee's desk as he leans in.

McGee finds his breath within seconds and he is instantly recalling the troubling Rebecca Phax he had earlier interrogated.

"Boss, she wouldn't say much! Honest! She's too worked up about her husband right now..." He explains with a convincing voice tone. "Actually, it makes me think that maybe she's not the murderer after all. I-I mean, I don't think she really killed her husband from the way she was acting..." He tries to give a valid point but Gibbs only rolls his eyes as he returns to his own desk.

"That's what every suspect wants for you to believe McGee." The boss snaps back critically and McGee just lowers his head a bit. He couldn't help it if he somewhat felt a little sympathetic towards the woman. She had seemed so upset...

"Well, if you want you could try talking to her?" He suggests rather quietly- not knowing what to expect from the offer.

Sure enough though, Gibbs rises to his feet in a sudden fit of rage; his eyes burning. "No McGee! You know what I want? I want another lead! We've practically never had one to begin with!" he roars angrily, his gaze snapping towards both Tony and Ziva's desks.

They seriously needed answers now; for some part of him believed what McGee had to say about the wife. There is no way that this all went down because of a sappy woman who can't even answer a few questions between tearful sobs!

"Boss I-" McGee tries to slowly begin with a reassuring look coming to his face, but Gibbs simply cuts him off. "You find me a new lead McGee! Now!"

Things weren't looking too good at all.

 **A/N: Hope you are enjoying the story! Will they ever find a good lead?**

 **Hope so! In fact, I am getting really excited for this story :)**

 **Thank you all for the amazing and kind reviews so far! So encouraging! People are so uplifting on this site and I am trying to write more every day!  
**


	6. Relief

**Chapter 6**

* * *

 **A/N: Welcome to the next chapter! Things are getting heated in the story and only time will tell on whether or not our team will be able to solve the mystery to this estranged case. Thanks for the reviews everyone! So thankful :) Please enjoy!  
**

Abby arrives back within her lab with another load of evidence- nothing but crates containing evidence bags filling her room now. Ever since the news of the poison that had been discovered, she continuously had been keeping herself hard at work on trying to find answers for everyone.

At the moment, she had her Major Mass Spec trying to decode the horribly noxious substance that Ducky had found on the Lance Corporal's hands. She still needed to figure out where this stuff came from...

She was also trying to run as many food items through her scanners for fingerprints for more signs of the poison. And all the while she made sure she was wearing gloves- a mistake that she was sure Tony and Ziva both did not commit.

 _Come on Abby. Pick up the pace. We need to find this maniac._ She hurriedly rushes back to her computer screen and begins typing up remedies and antidotes on urushiol. All she could think about was her endangered friends. Hopefully nobody she knew would contract the deadly substance.

She immediately gets a hit and finds a natural healing herb named 'jewelweed'. She researches it quickly to find that it is a fast healer to any poisonous substance- if applied soon and well.

She reads on to find that it majorly helps with urushiol. That's exactly what she needed to know.

 _Jewelweed. I'll have to get someone like Timmy to go fetch me some._ She jerks her head down towards her work area and picks up a sticky-note to remind her to do just that. She scribbles 'Jewelweed' down onto it before slapping it to her computer screen. She then rushes back over towards the crates that were everywhere about the room and she picks up a few evidence bags with food items rustling around inside of them.

She then carries them back over to be lifted for prints.

She opens about three bags before her thoughts suddenly shift back to the crime scene where more evidence still remained. Did Tony and Ziva ever recover the rest of the evidence?

Its been a while now and she wasn't sure what to make of the troubling thoughts.

 _They're fine Abigail. Just focus on your own work._ She tells herself assertively before going back to looking for prints. After a few more minutes of nonstop print-lifting, she then goes for one of her phones and calls Timothy McGee- demanding him that he should go pick up some Jewelweed at any nearby store, pharmacy, wherever!

She slams the phone back into the receiver before returning to her work hurriedly.

She didn't like this case. Not one bit. And she specifically didn't like the possibilities that perhaps someone close to her could be poisoned by this horrible stuff Ducky had so heroically detected.

She also held theorizing thoughts based on their murderer the team was trying to find.

 _What if he has more of this stuff? Does he plan to use the rest?_ She couldn't help but let her mind wander from probability to probability.

As she is pulling prints off of a random can of beans, she pauses in her work to notice that Tony and Ziva did in fact wear gloves while handling the evidence earlier in the day. Because her AFIS would have already picked up their prints if they hadn't used gloves.

 _Yay!_ She smiles to herself as a relieving sensation wanders over her. Perhaps she had been jumping to conclusions all along.

Suddenly though, her AFIS finally gives a ringing beep and she turns her head to notice that she's gotten a match.

"Perfect!" She congratulates herself before leaping for the screen. She types in a few things on her keyboard to then bring up none other than Jerry Phax's Identification photo.

 _What?_ She thinks dolefully. She frowns before simply going to run more prints.

"Thanks a lot. I already know our marine touched the food... poor guy." She mumbles to herself before turning back to the many evidence bags. Hopefully she'd find a different print on some other item that would not come up as their victim.

Maybe the next would be the suspect's.

* * *

Scratching. Nothing but endless scratching.

And pain. A whole lot of it.

Tony and Ziva were both going at their hands, wrists, and knuckles like they practically had fleas on them. Tony couldn't take it though. All he could do was scratch his itching, ailing hands which were now extremely red with a blistering rash.

Ziva too couldn't stop her itching. Her fingers felt like they were literally on fire or something. How could she have ever let this happen to her and Tony?

She still felt merely astonished due to the fact that they were now just covered with poison. Perhaps the same poison that had killed their Lance Corporal too.

But where had they gotten this stuff from? She and Tony had worn latex gloves while helping Abby!

And Gibbs had only suggested that the evidence were the only things that had to have had the poison on them.

 _So where did we go wrong? What did we do?_ _And why is it just me and Tony?_ She asks herself dubiously. Perhaps once they got back into NCIS, things would make much more sense.

Maybe Abby and Ducky already found more answers towards this disreputable case.

Tony had tentatively suggested that he be the one who drove the two back to NCIS. Ziva had only argued with him for about five long minutes until she could no longer stand to just be waiting around and scratching herself so continuously.

Itching her hands seemed to only make the burning sensation worst.

So finally Tony had managed to drive them back to the headquarters where the two of them currently stood in the ascending elevator- scratching horrifically at their hands.

Ziva glances over to her partner now as he suddenly grunts in agonizing pain for scratching so hard at his palms.

She frowns at him with concern. "Tony! We're here now. We need to quit itching ourselves." She instructs him with a firm nudge to his side, but Tony only bites his lip before continuing. "I-I can't help it, Zi..." He exhales roughly just as Ziva then spots a small quiver of bright blood start to twinkle atop Tony's knuckles.

"Tony!" She gapes before nudging him harder. "You're bleeding from itching yourself too much!" She points out incredulously, and the male agent only lets his gaze fall to the floor.

"It's really bad, I know..." He mutters, with defeat vocalizing his tone. He was practically tearing his own skin off just to relieve himself from the poison. But whatever kind of relief that manifested itself only lasted for about two seconds before the crazy itch would start up again.

"Well stop!" She demands him willingly, just before the elevator doors open up into the squadroom. Ziva leads the way, followed by a suffering Tony; his hands traumatizing him entirely and endlessly.

As the two enter the bullpen, Ziva instantly snaps her eyes onto a hard-working McGee, his fingers typing away on his keyboard at speeds that seemed unknown.

"McGee!" The ninja-like assassin yells for the man's attention and instantly McGee looks up- his eyes widening as he rapidly notices the conditions of their hands.

"T-Tony! Ziva! What happened to you guys?" McGee rises to his feet, his keyboard and task at hand completely forgotten at the moment.

Ziva feels like running a stressful hand through her hair but she restrains herself from the fact that poison afflicted her hands. "We need some help. Now. I think Tony and I have gotten poisoned somehow." She explains hurriedly, her gaze turning back towards her shifting partner. He was trying so desperately to not scratch at his hands...

McGee nods thoroughly before beckoning them to follow him and he starts towards the back elevator. "Come on then, we should take you to see Ducky." He advises quickly, before the three of them all jumped into the elevator.

Tony grunts as McGee turns to give the two agents a look. He had no idea how they came to withhold some of the poison found on their dead marine, but he really needed to find out.

"S-So... you guys _did_ wear gloves, right?" McGee can't help it. He slowly lets the question slip from his teeth and instantly Tony jerks his head towards him, his eyes glazing over with sudden anger.

"Of course we did Probie! Geez! I've been working cases for a long time now!" the Senior agent growls, his fists curling slightly and McGee just drops his head.

Ziva however is studying her swelling hands. A deep coursing rash along with boils and blisters simply coats her hands. She feels hateful at the horrid sight of herself. How were they ever going to get themselves out of this? How long would it take to be cured?

 _Hopefully not long._ She tells herself as the three agents finally rush into autopsy to find not only Ducky- but Gibbs; the two chatting away quietly near Ducky's desk area.

Both of their heads look up at the sight of Tony and Ziva, and immediately Gibbs narrows his eyes at them.

"So, what happened with you two?" He raises an eyebrow and Ducky only fights back a startling gasp. "Good heavens! Well, are you two alright?" The doctor is instantly at their sides, his eyes locking to their alien-like hands.

"We're fine, really. But we-" Ziva is trying to start with their current conditions, but Gibbs cuts in with a short-tempering look towards Tony.

"DiNozzo. So, you didn't have anything to tell me concerning possible poison outbreaks over our little talk on the phone?" he crosses his arms with an expecting look before Tony simply hangs his head sorrowfully. "Boss I... Well I didn't want to jump to any conclusions?" He begins with a guilty expression and Ziva and McGee both look to Gibbs.

"Jumping to conclusions DiNozzo? With a rash like that?" The boss growls, however, his gaze isn't as icy as Tony had expected it to be.

"Well... I also didn't want to worry anyone. But I get it Boss. Won't happen again." he assures, before Ducky goes to put on some latex gloves. He returns with an intrigued emotion playing in his eyes.

"So this is our horrible substance that our Lance Corporal died from. It looks very much like the conditions to our fallen friend." He takes Ziva's hands and examines the skin around the fingers and palms.

"Do you think there is a cure?" Ziva asks hopefully, as Ducky only continues his examination.

"Oh! Yeah!" McGee suddenly chips in, and all eyes turn to him.

"I-I got word. Abby did find an antidote by the name of 'Jewelweed'. She asked me to go get some and so I did- only about ten minutes ago." he informs everyone, a small hesitant look towards Gibbs causing for him to swallow hard.

"So, we aren't going to die?" Tony muses rather happily before giving Ducky a small playful nudge. "Because for a second I thought, with all this itching and burning..." he trails off though with an unamused glare coming from Gibbs.

"Yes, Abigail told me she was working on finding an antidote for anyone who might come into contact with our victim's poison." Ducky begins explaining next, his Scottish accent brisk.

"And somehow, two of my agents end up with this stuff?" Gibbs retorts rather questionably.

"Yes, but that is what I cannot simply understand. How did you two come by to gaining this poison, if you had worn gloves while working with Abigail in the evidence garage?" Ducky asks queerly- however, both Tony and Ziva can only muster a shrug at the doctor.

They had no idea how they came into contact with the substance.

"Well we'll definitely need to figure that out." McGee murmurs rather shakily before Gibbs just points towards the elevator. "Go. Get Abby to treat you two. And then I want another lead before tomorrow!" Gibbs instructs, causing for the three agents to hurry out of the room again.

* * *

McGee leads the way into Abby's lab to find the girl working away madly, her music on so loud that the agents had to cover their ears.

Crates of evidence were lined upon her table and along the floor. Every machine and computer seemed to be up and running, and Abby altogether looked a mess with her pigtails off center and her body moving frantically around the room. About four to five Caf-Pows sat on her desk too. All perhaps empty at that.

"Abby! Abby what is going on?" McGee yells over the blaring music, concern for his friend hurriedly settling upon him.

The Goth immediately jerks her head around to her visitors before rushing to turn off her music for them. Once the horribly loud pounding ceases, she races over towards her friends.

"Oh my gosh! Tony! Ziva! Timmy!" She is about to throw herself onto Tony for a massive hug- but McGee simply just steps in her way.

"No, don't!" The Probie holds out his hand to her and she stops in her attempted hug to frown at him.

"What?" She questions.

"Tony and Ziva... they have poison on them, okay?" McGee tries to bring it slow to her, but even with a gentle voice Abby is instantly stricken with horror.

Her worst fears had come true! Her own friends have become poisoned!

She gapes for a moment before looking at their hands which held clear signs of the poison's attack. "Oh... Oh no..." She breathes frightfully, dread and alarm sweeping her emotions away.

"Hey, we're going to be fine. We just really would like that antidote that you managed to find please." Tony tries to get his voice out without being strangled by another onslaught of itchiness and burns.

Abby hurriedly nods at her friends before going to get the substance. "I have it right here! It's called Jewelweed!" She informs them before rushing back to them with a small jar of lotion-like cream inside of it.

Ziva looks at the jar closely before taking it.

"It's a salve. You need to rub it in really well and in no time the poison will be gone! Rash and all!" Abby explains optimistically with a small bounce on her feet.

Tony nods before snatching the jar from Ziva's hands. He flips the lid off with his thumb before going to dip his fingers into the Jewelweed- desperation driving him crazy for wanting the poison gone.

Ziva only gives him a nudge to the stomach before she joins him.

McGee and Abby both watch as the two smother the salve onto their hands, instant relief coming to play on Tony DiNozzo's face. He lets out a solacing moan, a wide smile carving onto his face.

"Ohhh, that feels so much better already..." he breathes, and Ziva giggles slightly from beside him, a grin on her own face. She enjoyed that her partner was finally relieved.

Upon contact, the Jewelweed instantly begins lessening the symptoms of the poison, and she couldn't quite fathom at how quick the antidote actually was working.

"Wow, This is really good Abby!" Ziva remarks rather gleefully. Abby only smiles happily at her friends. "I'm just glad you two didn't end up like our Jerry Phax downstairs." She points out, and both Tony and Ziva share a small look with each other.

"I-I mean, I was so worried someone would get poisoned! A-And then you two _both_ get it, and-..." She rambles for a few moments before trailing off- relishing the fact that they were okay now.

"Well, you're right. How did we survive? Why didn't our marine?" Tony questions, his fingers still lathering the Jewelweed on his hands.

Abby gives a puzzling look at this question before taking some gloves and looking at their hands. "Hmmm... well with such high poisonous levels; statistically, you two really should be dead..." She murmurs slowly and rather painfully. At this comment McGee's eyebrows rise high.

There is a small silence that settles upon the room. The possibility of someone dying simply wasn't taken lightly.

"Then, how are we not dead Abby?" Ziva finally speaks, and she frowns with a troublesome expression.

Abby ponders a moment longer before taking one of Tony's hands. She turns to her work area and takes a wipe and a Q-tip. She then goes to rub the items along Tony's hands which causes for the man to blink at her rapidly. "And this helps how..?" He questions before Abby just gives him a small glare.

"I am taking swabs of your skin so hopefully I can compare and analyze your poison to our dead guy's." She explains before turning back to her computers. She wanted to see if there were any differences within the poison from their marine compared to Tony and Ziva's poisoning.

It was a rather smart move on her end. However, Tony is still gawking at her.

"Umm.. but I just used the Jewelweed? Isn't the poison going to be gone though?" He continues asking his rather impulsive questions and McGee sends him a look.

"Nope. The Jewelweed is helping subside the symptoms and abolish the poison. But the poison itself will take some time to completely be terminated." She counters back, which in turn causes for Tony to nod understandingly.

"Do you think we're dealing with multiple poison types? I mean, how long before we find out?" Ziva's voice then pitches in, her Israeli accent coming off thick.

Abby begins typing on her keyboard before shrugging. "It could be possible that you two's poison was different.. I mean, our guy died from his. So something is definitely up." She describes rather eerily before adding, "Give me maybe twenty minutes?"

And McGee gives her a thumbs up.

Ziva looks back at her hands next which were now covered in Jewelweed. The salve had helped subside the pain quicker than she had thought it would and so she felt thankful.

 _But how on earth did we still manage to get this stuff on us?_ She wonders with a small evasive look at Tony.

She needed to figure that out- for it was bugging her far too much now for not knowing the answer.

"Oh, and guys?" Abby's voice brings Ziva back to reality again.

"Yes?" McGee answers her.

The Goth pauses before turning to look over her shoulder at the three agents- a look of downright guilt shining in her green eyes. "I'm still gonna need the remaining evidence from our crime scene at some point."

 **A/N: Hey everyone! Yep, Tony and Ziva seem to be in the clear for now! But how did they get the poison on them?**

 **Hopefully the team will figure it out! Thanks for the reviews continuously! So nice and fun to hear from you!**


	7. The Scene

**Chapter 7**

* * *

 **A/N: Okay so I know the story has been going rather slow and I am sorry. This is only my second story I've tried writing in a while so I hope I'm still meeting standards. This chapter will be worth it. This chapter will be delving deeper into the case and hopefully they can catch this murderer sometime soon, or at least figure out who it is haha. So thankful to the reviews and followers as usual! :) Please enjoy!  
**

Tony and Ziva had been cleared of their poison. For now...

However, no one had uncovered any answers as to how the two agents came by to having this poison on their hands. They had used latex gloves like everyone else? So how did they sustain the poison?

Ducky and Abby were working hard at figuring out more to this deadly toxin. Abby was dominating her theory on whether or not Tony and Ziva's poison had been the same poison that was found on the dead marine. She was determined to prove her beliefs that they were now dealing with two different poisons...

Ducky on the other hand was searching for more answers from their special guest himself: Jerry Phax. This marine had somehow gotten himself in a very sticky situation- and Team Gibbs was set on finding out how and why. So many questions were being left unanswered.

How did this marine get into the grocery store at night? What were his intentions? Where was the murderer through all of this? Was there a fight of some sort?

Nobody really knew...

Meanwhile, all through the night Timothy McGee worked hard on trying to find Gibbs and the rest of the team a new lead on this horribly strange case. With no luck though, he began losing some real confidence on whether or not this case was ever going to come to a close anytime soon. All they had to go on was the marine's wife; Rebecca Phax. And she seemed to be totally oblivious as to how and when her own husband even died. Nobody suspected that she killed him- but you could never be too sure.

The next day Gibbs immediately tells Tony, McGee, and Ziva to all go back to their crime scene and investigate any and every possibility to figuring out the puzzles to this case so that they'd hopefully come to find the murderer.

He wanted every scrap, every food particle, every _single crumb_ bagged and tagged at that crime scene to make sure that the murderer left no trace of himself behind...

This was surely going to be fun.

...

"A third time?! You kidding me?!" Tony groans loudly as he pulls up in front of the same dark eerie grocery store as always. He quickly shifts the Charger into park as McGee's eyes glue onto the building before them.

He feels himself swallow hard.

"Oh come on Tony. At least we're not itching anymore, yes?" Ziva smirks rather happily as she goes around to collect her things from the trunk. Yet again the team was back at the crime scene.. and oh what a joy it was for some.

"Yeah? Good thing Abby found that Jewel-stuff or whatever. I'd probably be dead by now." Tony grumbles through his teeth, his eyes slightly averting towards his hands. They didn't look completely normal yet- however the blisters and red rash had definitely subsided.

He almost looked like himself again.

"It's called Jewelweed, and did you two even thank her for it? I mean poor Abby worked all day trying to find a remedy for you both." McGee pitches his voice into their conversation as he comes to grab his backpack.

Ziva however just rolls her eyes at the man. "Well of course we thanked her! At least some of us have a little decency in us, right Tony?" She sideglances towards her partner and Tony only scoffs in his agreement.

"I didn't mean that Ziva, honest. All I'm saying is-" McGee tries to backtrack on his words but Tony simply slams the trunk down, which causes a loud thud to interrupt McGee's voice.

"We're going in. Stay close." Tony demands rather dramatically before he takes the lead towards the grocery store- Ziva and McGee falling into step behind him.

He creeks the door open before gazing around into the large building- just as he and Ziva did last time.

"Can't believe I have to do this again." He mutters to himself as the icy cold air comes into contact with him now.

Ziva braces herself before she too is struck by the cold atmosphere of the grocery store- McGee only doing the same.

"Wow. Darker and colder than what I remembered." The Probie speaks lowly as he peers around into the shadows.

Tony however gives him a look with a small furrow of his brow. "It hasn't changed McGoo. Still freezing in here." he snaps, before going to tighten his jacket around himself. Ziva then pushes her way to the front and flips on her flashlight next; this draws the attentions of both the male agents.

"S-So the Boss wants us to look around and gather every evidence we find... great." McGee goes over their assignment rather sourly.

Ziva just nods in response before beginning to lead the way into the store- the darkness quickly surrounding her and swallowing her up.

Tony blinks before going to follow his partner. Once he can see her and her flashlight better, he watches as she glances around every so often as if something were to jump from the shadows or something. He almost feels a smirk escape his lips. But he stifles this amusement and tries to focus his mind on the case.

"A-Any ideas as to how it got so cold in here?" McGee's voice suddenly comes from behind Tony and it brings him back to reality.

He pauses in his walking and gives a thoughtful look.

 _He's got a point. How come we've never checked it out before?_

"Uhh... yeah, I don't know about that just yet. We can investigate later." The senior agent remarks rather abruptly before adding, "For now we should start bagging and tagging everything we see..."

He then turns back to continue following Ziva when he instantly notices her absence. The girl was no longer in front of him.

 _What?!_

Where did she go?

"Ziva!" Tony whisper-yells into the darkness, before hurriedly whipping out his flashlight and switching it on. He shines it down aisle one, and then onto aisle two; his heart rate beginning to pick up a little.

He knew Ziva was capable on her own but he didn't like the idea of her just disappearing on him.

"Ziva! Where are you?" He whispers loudly again, and McGee comes to stand by his side- his own flashlight now in hand from Ziva's sudden loss.

Tony whirls his head around in every direction for the sight of Ziva's flashlight beam and he suddenly notices a glow coming from farther down the lanes.

Finally the Israeli's voice comes from a ways down from where the two men were standing. She obviously had gone on to aisle six, which was the place of the murder.

"I'm over here!" She calls back, her light illuminating the area she was in, and Tony immediately darts for her glow. He comes to aisle six before turning to peer down the lane- his eyes instantly connecting onto the slim figure of Ziva David.

He frowns before starting for her. "Why would you just run off like that?" he questions, his grip tightening around his flashlight's handle. Ziva however only looks up at him with irritably eyes. "I can take care of myself Tony. I wanted to see the crime scene." She replies back sharply and DiNozzo exhales hard.

McGee finally comes to join the two arguing agents, his eyes wide and cautious. "A-Anything wrong?" he quickly asks with a finicky look towards Ziva.

The olive-toned woman rolls her eyes at the repetitive question before going to squat on her knees to get a look at the leftover evidence they were to recover.

Food boxes, cans, meats, veggies, dairy products, and so many more various items littered the lane- all of which once had been piled upon Lance Corporal Phax.

The man seriously endured a very weird demise.

 _Death by groceries? I mean, what could be more strange?_ Tony thinks to himself as McGee goes to join Ziva on the floor.

All three agents were conspicuously wearing gloves now- if not two layers. McGee had decided to wear two layers of gloves seeming he still had no idea how Tony and Ziva both received poison on their hands.

He was only being cautious- however, Tony and Ziva both had given him a hard time over it.

"Make sure you don't touch anything now Probie..." Tony chuckles at the agent as he shuffles some veggies around near his feet.

McGee turns to give Tony a look before glancing at his double-layered hands. "Hey... It's alright to be a little more cautious than normal okay? I really just want to make sure that I don't get any poison on me like... well.. uh..." He trails off as Ziva glances over towards him now- her eyes like daggers.

"W-Well you know... like.. you guys..." He gently tries to get his words out- not wanting to offend anyone here. Tony though only scoffs, while Ziva does the same before returning to the food on the floor.

McGee bites his lip before frowning. "Hey, we all know that you both wore gloves, okay? I'm not saying that you didn't." He tries to correct his harsh wordings but Ziva doesn't even bother with the argument anymore.

"I get it." She snaps, her eyes never leaving the contents of the crime scene.

She then just turns to take out some evidence bags within her backpack- a marker in hand so that she could write on the bags.

"I guess we... pick this stuff up now, yes?" The girl tries to move the conversation along; not wanting to dwell on the fact that both she and Tony had sustained poison only yesterday.

"Yes. Right." McGee nods understandingly before going for his own backpack.

Tony simply watches on from his standing position above them. He held his flashlight beam over the crime so that the two other agents could see what they were doing. He liked doing this much better than joining them on the floor... with the poisonous items.

"Be careful now. Easy does it." McGee speaks aloud as he shoves a blackening banana into his first evidence bag; his nose wrinkling a bit within the process.

Ziva is also careful as she places some canned corn into a bag. The collection of the evidence was getting along rather slow; but this was only because all agents felt extra cautious now. Nobody wanted to end up with the nasty poison on their hands.

Not after yesterday.

Tony exhales; a relatively bored feeling coming to gradually ascend upon him as he watches his co-workers on their knees.

He almost felt rather selfish for not getting down there with them- but hey, he needed to provide the lighting for them to see, right?

It is only when Ziva goes to reach for another food item when Tony's attention is suddenly brought back to life. She shifts to a better stance upon her legs and she turns so that her whole backside is facing Tony.

He slowly grins massively.

Apart from the fact that her outfit captured her figure perfectly, he couldn't help but let his gaze wander over her protruding rear. She was squatting tightly- only as a nimble woman could- and her outfit only made it worst for the frat-boy. Her cargo pants hugged her sides with outstanding leisure as she reaches for another item and he feels his tongue running over his lips within seconds.

"Wow..." The man let's a breath escape his lips before he lifts his eyebrows at his partner below him; the grin still plastered to his face.

Suddenly though, Ziva jerks her attention onto the gaping agent- her eyes meeting his. Just from the expression he was portraying, she instantly catches onto what was happening and she lets a sly smirk creep over her face.

"Tony DiNozzo? Just what are you doing?" She questions before turning her body to fully face him; ending his small moment of being captivated by her looks.

"W-Well, Miss Ziva. I-I was making sure that.. you weren't missing anything?" He begins looking for the perfect excuse to save his life from the situation that he was now put in, but he was a horrible liar when it came to the Mossad Ninja skills of Ziva.

"Hmm? Were you literally checking me out Tony?" Ziva simply comes straight to the point, and with this, McGee has to turn and send Tony an unamused look.

DiNozzo is gaping. He is at a loss for his words at the moment. He didn't like this accusation one bit and he especially didn't like the way McGee was looking at him now. He scoffs gruffly. "Me? Pssh! Don't flatter yourself David! I was _so_ not checking you out for nothing!" He chuckles rather embarrassingly before nodding back to the evidence they still needed to collect.

"Get back to work." He simply concludes before going to clear his throat.

The Mossad assassin only continues holding her smirk on her lips as she returns back to bagging and tagging things. She knew.

McGee however still holds his gaze on Tony; a look of 'Really?' in his expression.

"I said back to work Probie!" Tony speaks through his teeth with an annoyed look towards the agent before finally McGee just rolls his eyes.

"Would be better if you helped out DiNozzo- instead of looking at Ziva the whole time." The Probie suddenly mutters, and with this, Tony lowers himself to their level; his flashlight going straight to McGee's face. "What was that McKnowItAll?"

McGee squints at the light before shoving the flashlight away. "You heard me. Ziva knows it too. You're not doing a thing to help here!" He defends himself before slipping another item into another bag.

Tony sets his jaw hard before going to only shrug. "Well someone needs to provide light." He points out rather doubtfully. He completely hated himself for getting so distracted by Ziva... How could he have let that happen?

 _She probably thinks she's just everything... well she isn't!_ He tells himself forcefully within his mind; her smirk still on her face.

It is then though that he gains an idea as to how he'd get himself out of this rather awkward situation.

 _I can be helpful.. If that's what they want.  
_

"Well, how about I go investigate the temperature mystery then? Maybe I can try and see if I can warm it up in here for everyone." Tony suggests rather thoughtfully; a prideful feeling towards his idea coming to swell within his chest.

McGee and Ziva both look towards him at this.

"The temperature? Really?" Ziva asks incredulously. She also sort of disliked the idea of Tony going off by himself. She didn't want anything to happen to him...

"Yeah, that's not what we came here to do?" McGee frowns at the Senior agent before gesturing towards the evidence bags that now surrounded him. "We need to bag and tag all of this stuff first. Make sure there's no poison left on anything?"

Tony only raises an eyebrow. "Oh come on. I know what we came here to do, but maybe I can solve the mystery to our missing heat problem? Might be useful later on if we're here overnight." He tries to raise a valid point but McGee continues holding his own opinions on the situation.

"Well we won't be here overnight if you'd help us with the evidence." The Probie flashes back.

And with this, Tony has had it. He throws his arms out exasperatedly and groans.

"Enough! I'm Senior Field Agent!" he snaps. "Now I'm going to go see if I can figure out where this cold air is coming from. But I will be right back to help with the evidence. I promise!" He heaves a final exhale before pulling his pack atop his shoulders some more.

McGee and Ziva only exchange glances with one another.

He was seriously intent on doing this.

"Well... hurry back Tony." Ziva finally sags her shoulders and casts her partner a look. She wanted to make sure he'd be alright. She didn't want him wandering the creepy store alone.

"I'll be fine Zi." Tony simply assures her before heading off down the aisle again- his flashlight lighting the way.

He glances around the eerie building which was freezing and still held no lights. Nobody exactly knew what truly happened to the lights beforehand, but at least he'd be able to solve one mystery, right?

 _Hmm... Now let's see.._ He thinks to himself as he peers around the store.

He suddenly spots a flight of stairs that ascended upwards and cocks his head.

 _Perhaps this will lead somewhere._ He heads for the stairs.

Meanwhile, Ziva slows at her work as she watches Tony's darkening silhouette disappear completely. She feels unsettled about this.

 _Sense when does he have the say to just wander off and leave us here doing the work?_ She questions scornfully within her mind. She didn't want to just be left with the dirtywork.

She felt like being at his side. She wanted to explore with him.

"McGee..." She finally speaks, and the Probie's eyes slowly lift to hers.

"Something wrong?" He asks within a whisper tone. It somehow didn't feel right to talk loudly all of a sudden.

"Well..." The Israeli pauses in her bagging and sets her stuff down; her eyes still gazing into the direction where Tony had faded in.

"I don't like Tony being alone in here." She admits at last, and McGee blinks before finally nodding.

Even though the agent was a pain sometimes, he wouldn't ever want something to happen to him.

"Hopefully he'll be fine." Is all McGee manages to say next. Ziva however doesn't buy it.

"No. I think we should just go after him. We can come back to this." She suggests before getting to her feet; her flashlight back in her hand now.

McGee hurriedly gets to his feet as well before turning in all directions. It was rather spooky in here for him. He didn't like it.

"B-But the evidence?" He questions rather softly- still not wanting to speak too loudly.

Ziva only ignores his want to stay and complete the bagging and tagging. They'd have time to do that later.

"Come on. Before he gets himself into trouble." Ziva heads off in the direction Tony had disappeared in with McGee at her heels. Neither spoke too much as they exited the aisle and began looking around. Already Ziva was beginning to feel rather worried for her partner.

Where was the glow from his flashlight? At least she should be able to tell where he was?

"This way." She beckons McGee to follow her as she heads for the 'check out' area of the store. So far? No sign of Tony or of his flashlight.

 _Would he ever turn the flashlight off?_ She questions to herself.

She then only frowns to herself- her eyes looking around frantically for any sign of the Senior agent.

 _No. He'd never just turn it off within a dark building._

So where did he go?

 **A/N: Hey everyone! I know, only showing the field agents' point of view for this chapter. Thanks for the reviews! :) Think they'll find something? Maybe they will! Maybe they'll soon even find some'one'!  
**


	8. Happenings

**Chapter 8**

* * *

 **A/N: Hey! It's been a bit but sorry! I was a little busy. Anyhow, see what happens next! Can't wait to reveal more to everyone who reads this. So excited! Thanks so much for the ongoing support! Super thankful here!  
**

Ziva shines her flashlight in every direction- hoping to get even a glimpse of the now missing Tony DiNozzo.

Where had that man gone so fast?

Tony had only insisted that he go check out what was going on with the temperature in the room- but now it seems he has totally vanished.

McGee, who was looking everywhere just as frantically as she was, had his eyes darting all around the large grocery store. Gibbs had told the three agents to return to the crime scene for any signs of the murderer as well as to collect more evidence for Abby.

But right now, the two agents were a little busy looking for their Senior field agent.

"Come on Ziva. He couldn't have gone far, right?" McGee looks to the on-searching woman at his side; her brown eyes seemed rather heavy with disappointment and even worry.

He didn't know what to make of their situation at the moment. Nothing was going their way. This whole case seemed to be going nowhere.

"McGee. I only want to make sure he is okay. I mean where could the man possibly be?" Ziva spoke with rational aggravation in her voice. She was getting upset. Tony was obviously not in this store.

"Well, this place is pretty big. Maybe he's on the opposite side of the building from us? Or maybe he's even on an aisle?" McGee tries to give optimistic suggestions as to Tony's whereabouts, but even he couldn't quite grasp the fact that there was no sign of him.

"Really? An aisle?" Ziva raises an eyebrow at the Probie. "At least we'd see the glow from his flashlight!" She points out helplessly. She turns and sees nothing but darkness. Tony was not on an aisle. He wasn't at the check-out. Heck, he wasn't even at the meat and deli section.

So where was he?

"Let's try this way." Ziva simply states before taking off down the freezer section of the store. McGee hesitatingly follows her.

The lights that had once illuminated the cold foods on the freezer aisle were dim and most weren't even working.

"At least not all power is out." McGee tries to brighten the mood as he nods towards one of the vaguely blinking LED lights from inside one of the freezers.

Ziva doesn't even look towards the sorry excuse for light. She had silently hoped that Tony would be on this aisle- perhaps his flashlight glow would have been mingled and covered by the dull freezer lighting?

But there was no hope now.

She knew he wasn't in the room.

"This is insane." She suddenly comes to an abrupt stop- causing for McGee to nearly collide into her from behind.

"What is?" he answers her.

She crosses her arms and looks behind them before exhaling sharply. "Tony is not here. We need to face the straight facts!" Her voice is escalating now; which only causes for McGee to give a pleading look while raising a finger to his lips. He didn't like making a lot of noise in here. It felt too eerie.

"Look, either he left us simply. Or something happened to him..." she begins thinking of the many ways someone could have maybe abducted the agent.

But Tony was a fighter? Wouldn't she and McGee have heard at least something?

"You think he just left us here?" McGee wants to scoff but he doesn't. "Ziva, that'd be like walking out on your own job. And he loves NCIS." The Probie points out straightforwardly.

Ziva only nods in response before slowly beginning to walk again- her eyes falling to the floor to watch as she overpasses the square tiles below her feet.

First Tony gets poisoned and now he just vanishes? What was with this Grocery store?

* * *

Tony holds his flashlight tightly- his jaw clenching as he finally manages to reach the top of the dark staircase. He'd never _ever_ admit it... but at the moment he felt rather shaky; if not fearful of the blackening darkness around him. Where the heck were these light switches? And where was this staircase taking him?

His eyes dart left and then right; His mind only starting to compose uneasy thoughts.

What if the murderer decided to return to his crime scene? What if the man was still in the building?

 _Now you're just playing games DiNozzo. Police checked the whole place out. Nobody is here besides you and your team._ He tries telling himself rather forcefully to calm himself down but his heart rate only quickens as he turns into a dark office now.

He grimaces and peers around the cubicle room.

 _This must be the manager's place._ He decides thoughtfully. File cabinets surrounded one large wooden desk with a black-leather chair parked right behind it. All was quiet up here.

Nothing seemed too out of place either.

 _Wonder who the lucky owner of this grocery store is..._ He practically chuckles aloud. He flashes the beam of light around the room.

"Hm." He then turns to the walls in hopes of finding a thermostat or something. What could he really do anyways? How was he actually going to do anything concerning this cold air?

 _Maybe I should go back. I'm seriously only useless up here._ He finally concludes with a lasting look around the rather orderly office.

He is about to make for the stairs when suddenly there comes a creak from behind him.

Tony tenses up before turning to see who or what was behind him.

He flashes his flashlight all around him- practically like a sword as if to keep away any unwanted villains.

"Hello?" He questions sternly- his beam of light finding its way down another corridor.

He swallows hard before practically whispering, "Poison-Man?"

He peers down the tight hallway before exhaling rather exasperatedly. Did he really have to open his mouth about the cold air?

 _This is just great._ He thinks before edging down the corridor. It comes to a dead end within a few feet- however there is a door off to the left hand side.

Tony raises an eyebrow at the door before almost smiling to himself.

"Gosh, I feel like Jack Nicholson in Chinatown." He jokes figuratively before going to open the door. The hinges creak loudly as he pokes his head into the small room. It is pitch dark- so he pulls his arm with the flashlight through the door's opening and shines the glow about the room.

He frowns.

 _Storage room. This is ridiculous._ He then backs out and pulls the door shut.

He is about to make another reference to a movie, when suddenly the silhouette of a figure appears at the opposite end of his small corridor.

Tony's breath catches in his throat and he reels back alarmingly.

His heart races as he briskly throws the flashlight's beam at the now advancing figure- his eyes widen before he only comes to realize...

"Ziva!?" He snaps, and suddenly all fear and tension of being alone is gone.

The woman jerks her attention onto him before attempting to give him a glare; but the flashlight beam was blinding her. "Tony! Where have you been!" Her voice is teeming with anger as she holds up an arm to shield her eyes from his light.

Tony however only frowns as McGee now comes to appear at the end of the hall- obviously panting and out of breath from the stairs.

"I told you guys! I'm looking to fix the temperature, remember?" His gaze goes from McGee and back to Ziva- who was still holding an ill look.

The woman rolls her eyes before coming to point Tony's flashlight away from her face. "We've been looking everywhere for you! We thought something happened!" She explains and McGee only nods as he finally comes to stand by her side.

Tony blinks at his team.

 _What?_

"Looking for me? Why? I mean, I'm fine!" He throws his arms out and gestures to the dark corridor they all were huddled onto- a small smile wanting to slip from his mouth. Somehow this was getting to be amusing.

McGee and Ziva both only look at him.

"Well we didn't know that." McGee points out roughly.

"Yes, we came looking for you. And you were no longer in the store..." Ziva tries to describe what she and McGee had just experienced- but she doesn't quite know how to put it. Truthfully she had felt really worried about Tony's well-being. She didn't like the fact that he had temporarily disappeared on her.

"Well trust me. I'm fine guys. I was only looking around." The senior agent tries to assure the two but this doesn't seem to appease them whatsoever.

"So... does this mean you managed to fix anything?" McGee raises an eyebrow now.

Tony gapes for a moment before only reverting to a chuckle. "Well, actually... no." He smiles. "But hey, in my offense, Its only been like what? twenty minutes?"

McGee only rolls his eyes.

"How about we just get back to doing our job?"

* * *

Ducky throws his used latex gloves into the trashcan to his right. After studying over the corpse thoroughly and completing the autopsy, he comes to the conclusion that he had been right all along.

He had checked everything over and had found that Lance Corporal Jerry Phax did indeed die of the toxin upon his hands. But that's not all he found out.

There had been trace amounts of the same poisonous substance within and around his bullet wounds to the chest.

 _This could only mean that the killer had also dipped his bullets in the deadly poison!_ Ducky's mind had reeled from the discovery. Someone had really wanted to make sure that this marine was dead.

But that wasn't all.

Just moments ago, the doctor began coming up with a theory as to how this all went down- typical for when the answers are quite slim on the corpse' end.

 _What if this marine knew the killer?_

Could it be?

 _I mean, this is the only way I think this man would ever come to know of this murderer's whereabouts..._ Ducky ponders hard now; his eyes gazing towards Jerry Phax's emotionless face- as if, at any given moment the man would open his eyelids.

 _How else would Lance Corporal Phax know to randomly look inside of a closed Grocery store at night? Why else would Phax even want to look and break into the food store?_

He furrows his brow as he continues with his brainstorming.

 _Maybe... this young man was trying to prevent the murderer from doing something... But what?_

He turns and pulls up a stool- his critical thinking hard at work.

 _Maybe the murderer had attempted to break in and steal cash? No, the cash registers had been all but wiped clean of their fill. And what about the poison? How does the poison tie into everything else?_

It was this theory that began getting Ducky worried.

Because if his thinking came to be incorrect- then the only other solution would perhaps be that Jerry Phax was in on it with the killer. Maybe their marine had been an accomplice?

* * *

McGee bends down next to the same crime scene where their Lance Corporal had died.

Once again, the team was back with the evidence that still needed to be collected.

Everything was as the field agents had left it.

 _Nothing new. This is getting so redundant and old._ The Probie thinks to himself as he goes to bag and tag another food item now. He had only rashly insisted that this time Tony should help out with the collecting of the evidence- and yet sure enough the Senior Agent had only refused saying that he was much more useful with the lighting.

 _As if we can't use our own flashlights to help us see what we're doing._ He thinks crossly. Ziva on the other hand was hard at work already- practically throwing item after item into it's own individual bag.

McGee tries to go and match her working pace but he fails as a can of diced tomatoes slip from his hands and onto the floor. He cringes and hurriedly steps away from the can- not wanting even for his shoes to touch the item.

He was deathly afraid of getting any poison on him. He wasn't planning on making the same mistake that Tony and Ziva had made... whatever it had been.

"You scared of some veggies there, McAppetite?" Tony chuckles at the entertainment before him, causing for McGee to only send him a glare.

He then goes to pick up the runaway can and shoves it into an evidence bag.

 _Boy is Abby going to have a field day with all of this stuff._ He thinks humorously- his eyes going to his hands to make sure that no skin was showing or was able to come into contact with anything else.

He was glad he had decided to wear two pairs of gloves- despite the grief his co-workers had given him.

"There. That is the last of aisle six." Ziva exhales triumphantly as she rises to her feet now.

Tony glances up and down the lane before agreeing with a nod. "Guess you're right."

McGee then gets to his feet as well before suddenly noticing the many bags that now needed to be carried.

"Um... guys, whose gonna carry the evidence bags back to the car?" The Probie looks from Tony and then Ziva- but he immediately knew just what was on his mind.

 _Tony should do it._

And with this, he gives Tony a small nudge. "How about you do something this time and take them to the car?" He suggests.

Ziva instantly grins and crosses her arms. "Oh yes. I think you should be the one to do this job."

Tony's eyes widen and he frowns a disheartening look. "What? Me? Come on guys?"

But both McGee and Ziva only prevail with a look.

He sighs. "Fine! Whatever..." He then goes to start gathering as many bags as he could within his arms. He didn't like the fact that practically everything within each bag could possibly be poisonous.

McGee however only smiles on with content- as does Ziva.

"Good boy DiNozzo. You are actually doing _your job!_ " The Ninja teases him as he attempts to pick up way too many bags before suddenly his whole armful just collapses on him.

McGee chuckles at this before giving Ziva a look. "Wanna go look around while he finishes?"

Ziva only nods rather enthusiastically. "Sounds good." She answers.

McGee then leads the way off of aisle six- an anguished Tony grunting behind them.

He peers around the store again with his flashlight. The place was lifeless.

 _Perhaps this case will take only a few more days to solve?_ He hopefully begins conjuring thoughts as to how quickly this strange case could somehow come to and end. The easiest way would be if the murderer somehow felt guilty enough to just turn himself in.

 _Like that'll ever happen..._

"You know, Tony never did solve the mystery to the temperature in here." Ziva suddenly speaks, and this drags McGee from his elusive thoughts.

"Yeah. But hey, whether you know it or not, most grocery stores are typically cold inside anyways... probably for the produce. You know..." McGee tries to give an explanation to this- but both he and Ziva doesn't buy it.

"Hmm." Is all she responds as suddenly Tony comes walking by the two agents with a huge pile of evidence bags within his arms. They watch as he steers towards the doors to the building when somehow he trips and he loses his grip on the massive pile.

He groans loudly before throwing his hands up in the air. He was obviously pissed off. Now he would have to pick them up all over again... and it didn't look too easy.

Ziva laughs at the ridiculous scene and McGee only scoffs contently.

Serves him right.

* * *

Gibbs is typing away at his desk as Ducky suddenly comes hurrying into the Squadroom- his eyes gleaming with newfound confidence.

Gibbs looks up and almost wants to exhale in relief. So far, nothing seemed to be connecting to the case. No questions were getting answered. Not even the wife- Rebecca Phax seemed promising.

Perhaps Ducky had something useful.

"What do you got?" He asks, and the doctor comes to stand in front of his desk.

"Me? Oh, Jethro, I've not gotten much- but I did find that the bullets within our marine's chest had been dipped in the same poison that had been found on his hands." Ducky begins on his findings, and this quickly gains Gibbs' full attention.

"Bullets covered in poison?" He questions, and Ducky gives a firm nod.

"Someone wanted to make sure our man was dead Jethro."

At this, Gibbs only wanders his gaze over his agents' desks. He wasn't getting anywhere with them all still at the crime scene. How long were they going to take?

"Any ideas on who yet, Duck?" The boss inquires next, leading for the M.E. to only raise an eyebrow.

Gibbs sets his jaw. "You know?" He presses again.

"Not for sure, no. But I do have a theory." Ducky answers with a small quirk of a smile.

Gibbs leans back in his chair- as if no longer wanting to wait for the release of answers. "Well let's here it then."

Ducky shifts himself so that he is sitting upon the edge of Gibbs' desk before he begins. "I think... Perhaps our dear boy Jerry Phax knew his killer."

Gibbs stays emotionless. He too had thought of this- but what proof did they possibly have? He didn't like assuming anything without hardcore evidence.

Ducky goes on anyways- despite his friend's expression. "For starters, why go into a grocery store at night? Why a grocery store of all places?" He leans in. "What would a marine be doing there anyways? Except to buy groceries like anyone else? Why then, at night, did our Jerry Phax break into that grocery store? There must be a solution Jethro." The Scottish man pauses so that his friend could take it all in. Gibbs however had his mind working hard.

Perhaps Ducky was right.

Maybe the marine did know the killer.

 _But how?_

"Well Duck, I did already think of that. But where's the proof? And how exactly did he know the killer?" Gibbs questions now with a cross of his arms.

Ducky only shakes his head. "That, I am unsure of. But at least we're getting somewhere, right? I mean, if Jerry Phax did know his killer- then what on earth prompted the killer to murder Jerry with poison?"

It is then though that suddenly Leon Vance comes strutting into the bullpen- his eyes hard and stern.

Both Ducky and Gibbs turn to him as he approaches- an eerie feeling making itself known.

"Director?" The Scottish doctor questions with a look towards Gibbs.

Something wasn't right.

Leon Vance had his arms behind his back and his gaze directed only for Gibbs.

"Something I can do for you?" Gibbs practically snaps. He wasn't in the mood for a lecture from Leon about how long cases usually took to solve.

"Well, besides solving this case that's got me up to my neck with SecNav? No." Director Vance retorts quick and bluntly. He then stiffens a bit. "I just got a call from metro P.D. saying that two kids were found dead early this morning in a warehouse."

Both Gibbs and Ducky furrow their eyebrows at the Director. Two kids? And what did this have to do with them?

"Oh dear..." Ducky breathes.

Gibbs however knows what is going on. He is emotionless as Vance only finishes.

"They were reportedly killed from a deadly toxin found on their hands."

 **A/N: Hey! Sorry for not posting in like a few days! I got sidetracked with life :)**

 **Anyways! Small cliff-hanger! Poison strike two. Anyone perhaps know how this might end up? Could be starting to get more clear to some of you- but then again maybe not.**

 **:) So excited to continue on this! Thank you for reading and thanks for leaving any (and all) reviews!**


	9. The Warehouse

**Chapter 9**

* * *

 **A/N: Story is getting heated up! So glad I could post again. Like my last story, I didn't think I would get this far. My story ideas are short and I typically imagine them being around 3 to 5 chapters only. But this is going way farther than I could have hoped :) Thanks for the support and the reviews! Always fun reading what anyone thinks of my writing! Enjoy!  
**

Gibbs and Ducky are both equally shell-shocked.

"What?" Gibbs finally finds the nerve to speak. What was going on now?

Two more deaths? From poison?

"You heard me." Director Vance is still standing with his eyes as hard as ever. He obviously felt like taking this news out upon Gibbs- seeming he was heading the case involving the poison murder.

"Well, might I ask of any more details?" Ducky's voice pipes up over the spine-tingling clamor and Leon Vance finally shifts a bit.

He sighs.

"I didn't get much except for the fact that they died of poison. Somehow they were playing around this warehouse and they must have touched something. I'm beginning to think this is tied to your ongoing case though Gibbs." Vance's jaw clenches at his agent's name.

Gibbs however only remains with his gaze on the Director.

Something was going on out there. Could these two poison incidents be connected?

 _I don't believe in coincidences._ He affirms himself. It had to be true.

Their killer was becoming a mass murderer now.

 _Not on my watch._

Gibbs finally opens his mouth, his face remaining emotionless. "Well Leon, what do you want me to say? I'm guessing we're going to get jurisdiction on this?"

Vance only raises a slight eyebrow. "You guess correctly. It's clearly tied to our case. Our case means our jurisdiction." He confirms. "But, Metro P.D. will probably be all over you." He adds with a hint of contentment in his tone and Gibbs only narrows his eyes.

"Not my problem Gibbs." And with this, Vance begins heading out of the bullpen. "I want that killer! Before he targets and strikes anywhere else! Get it done!" He calls over his shoulder- and then the Director is gone.

Ducky immediately looks to Gibbs once the heat has defused a bit. What was going to happen now? Leon's news only now made their situation far worst.

"My word... Another death by poison? Two at that, and to be so young..." Ducky mutters with a look to the floor. Those poor kids. What had they possibly done to deserve death's grip so quickly?

Gibbs however is pondering furiously. How could he let this happen? Somewhere out there is a mass murderer. And he hadn't even gotten a decent lead on this guy yet.

 _I want answers. Now._

"Duck. I need you to work up some sort of psychological profile on this guy." Gibbs turns to his good friend with a look of sincerity. The demand is rather blunt.

Ducky gives a baffling look. "Profile? Jethro, I don't hardly know this man. Except for the fact that he's using poison to attack innocent people." The doctor feels flustered. He wanted to help. But how?

"Yeah? Well try anyways. I want to know if these two kids and our dead marine are connected in any way. Maybe there's a pattern." Gibbs murmurs rather darkly before heading for his desk. He begins searching up the latest details on this new crisis- the deaths of two kids within a warehouse.

 _A grocery store and now a warehouse... what is this guy playing?_ He thinks to himself sternly.

Ducky all the while has his own head spinning. Jethro was right. He needed to try and help.

He looks to his friend before shifting forward a bit. "Jethro, perhaps this isn't the end of it?"

Gibbs lifts his head at this.

"What if the man has more of the poison? And what if he decides to strike again?"

* * *

"I got a ding!" Abby happily declares to herself as she rushes over to her computers- a Caf-Pow in hand.

She hurriedly types a few keys in before her screen lights up with revealing news.

"Hmm..." The Goth looks back over her shoulder to her counter top with the many evidence bags on it. Something wasn't adding up.

 _Abigail, perhaps your outstanding theory is correct._ She tells herself before looking back at the computer.

It was clear. The poison that Tony and Ziva had somehow gotten on their hands was not the same exact stuff found on their dead marine's hands.

 _So... what is going on here? Two poisons?_

She goes to compare the two substances against each other before taking a small breath in.

Her computers were telling her that the substances were different- but not by far.

"So Tony and Ziva's poison had less of the lethal ingredients found in the marine's poison..." Abby begins speaking aloud as she puts the pieces together.

"However..." She goes on to herself, "The stuff found on Tony and Ziva's hands contain mostly, if not all, of urushiol." She blinks rapidly as the gears in her head turns.

 _Both poisons contain urushiol. However, our dead guy's poison had other noxious components mixed with the urushiol. So this makes sense as to why Tony and Ziva did not die from their poisoning..._

 _...But why? As a killer, why not continue using all three lethal components in your substance?_ She questions to herself.

 _Maybe he was running out of all of his ingredients? I mean, they can't be easy to come by._ She frowns to herself at how dumb the thought is.

"Just another theory Abigail. You can't solve this whole thing." She tells herself before hurriedly going to pick up the phone. "I have to tell Gibbs!"

* * *

The elevator door dings open as a cross-looking Tony DiNozzo steps out and into the Squadroom. He leads the way to their bullpen- his eyes narrowed at his two co-workers.

McGee gives him a look before heading for his desk. "Oh come on Tony. You aren't still mad, are you?" The Probie chuckles slightly.

"That's the last time I ever do anything for you guys." Comes Tony's response with a snap. "Make me do all the work! I see how it is!" He flings his backpack down onto the floor before practically throwing himself into his chair- his expression burning with annoyance.

Ziva however only scoffs as she brings up the rear of the group. "Yeah, like we made you do _everything_."

"You only carried the bags to the car! Tony, me and Ziva were the ones bagging and tagging the evidence!" McGee points out with a genuine glance towards the Israeli.

Tony crosses his arms nonetheless. He didn't care what they had to say. He'd make sure his opinion prevailed.

He is about to open his mouth again to argue some more, however, Gibbs comes strutting into the bullpen at high speeds- his eyes like ice as he heads for his desk.

All three of the field agents look up with a rather curious expression on each of their faces.

Something was going on.

"What's up Boss? Miss me?" Tony decides to test the waters a bit.

Gibbs though only throws him a glare before exhaling sharply. "We've got two more dead bodies."

At this reveal, both Tony and Ziva's mouths fall agape. McGee's eyes grow huge.

"What?"

"How?"

"Well, what happened?"

Their responses came all at once- and this only aggravated Gibbs even more.

"Shut up! All of ya!" He snaps before coming to stand in the center of the room. "Metro found two kids this morning in a warehouse. They both were killed by poison." He explains roughly and Ziva looks to both McGee and Tony.

More poison? And of all ages- kids?

"Well, do you think it is our man, Gibbs?" Ziva can't help but slide her comment into the fray- her emotions were already being scrambled from the news.

"Vance says they are connected. And I don't believe in coincidences Agent David!" The Boss' eyes are like steel now. His team were not getting him the answers he needed. Only time would tell when perhaps more poisoned victims might show up...

"W-Well, what do you want us to do Boss?" McGee asks with a terrified look.

Gibbs only nods towards the elevator doors. "We need to go check out this new crime scene. It's ours. Metro will be on us though."

At this, Tony only sags in his seat a bit. More collecting of evidence?

They had just got back from their original crime scene!

"But! Not all of you are going." Gibbs suddenly surprises the agents with a small look- each frozen in their tracks from going to grab their gear.

"Well, who is staying?" Tony hopefully asks, and he felt like a little kid who wanted desperately to volunteer and raise his hand. He really didn't want to go and deal with Metro right now.

Gosh, how he despised those people.

"Me and Ziva will go. DiNozzo, you and McGee will stay here and try and find me a lead. Find me a connection to these murders! Anything! And see if you can get anymore out of Rebecca Phax while you're at it." he instructs rapidly before heading for the elevator.

Ziva instinctively follows him- her expression still astonished from the news.

As the elevator doors close, Tony turns to McGee with a pure look of relief on his face.

"Man, am I glad we weren't chosen to go." he breathes before going to set his gear down.

McGee all the while only frowns at him. "Tony how could you possibly think like that when two more people were murdered?" He questions with an effective glance.

The Senior agent sighs after a moment while noting his error.

"Okay well, we need to focus on this case. And first thing's first..." He pauses for a small dramatic effect, "Any theories on our killer?"

McGee leans back in his chair in a frustrated manner before trying to concoct any ideas.

He honestly had none.

"Well, Gibbs said to interrogate Rebecca Phax some more. And next it would be your turn, because I already had my go with her." The Probie points out with a small look- causing for Tony to cock his head a bit.

"Rebecca Phax? You mean the wife to our dead guy?" He questions.

McGee only scoffs. "No, the wife to the dead kids. Yes! Yes, she's the wife to Jerry Phax!"

At McGee's aggravated reaction, Tony only chuckles with a beaming smile. "All right, calm down McFreightTrain." He stands before straightening his suit a bit. "I'll talk to her. You watch, I'll be the one to get something out of her." He then heads off towards the back- McGee only staring after him.

"Yeah. Good luck with that." he murmurs.

* * *

Gibbs and Ziva get to the crime scene in as little as twenty minutes- with Gibbs driving and all.

Gibbs slams the door to the car shut before making his way up towards an abandoned looking structure. This, no doubt, was the warehouse where the deaths had taken place.

A few Metro cops and detectives are standing outside of it, their chatting continuously ongoing as both Gibbs and Ziva come trudging up to the scene.

"NCIS, Special Agent Gibbs and David. We're here about the two kids." Gibbs waves his credentials around to the Metro group before putting them away. He wasn't here to waste any time.

One man, a dark skinned detective comes to stand before the two NCIS agents- his expression rather dull.

"So you're here about the kids, eh? Never worked with NCIS personally before." The man grins a bit before gesturing towards the building. "My name is Detective Fredrick Arlmon. You can call me Fred though if-" The detective is cut short however from a glare from Gibbs.

"Oh, right, sorry." The man stops with his rambling and gets to the point. "Well, so far our findings are a bit brief Agent Gibbs. The two boys were found in here by a passer-by. A woman by the name of Kim Hayes said her dog started going crazy and then took off near the building. Probably following the stench of death, am I right?" The detective's brown skin pulls back into another small smile as Gibbs only shifts his gaze back onto the warehouse.

"Good thing someone found the kids then, yes?" Ziva inputs with a small unamused look towards the Detective.

The man nods. "Oh yeah. I think they were just playing around or something in there. Kids go looking for trouble whenever they can though." He explains, while Gibbs gives an abrupt scoff. "Yeah? Well I bet those kids didn't expect to find _poison_ in there, now did they Arlmon?"

And with this, Gibbs pushes past the rather annoying Metro Detective- Ziva at his side.

Fredrick Arlmon only turns and stares after them.

Gibbs leads the way up to the building before turning to Ziva. "Ducky will be here soon. I want you to go get that Kim woman's statement." He insists, and Ziva only nods before heading back towards the Metro throng and cars.

Gibbs then enters the musty warehouse- the smells of oil and rotting wood coming to meet his nose; not to mention the reek of death.

He heads over to two other Metro cops who are already inside next to the scene.

"What do we got?" Gibbs demands as he comes to stand beside them. One of the cops turn to him and shrugs a bit. "Two boys under the age of twelve. Wouldn't want to have touched that stuff. I mean, look at what it did to their hands." The man points to the massive boils and red rashes on the arms and hands of the kids.

Other than this though, the kids looked fine- as if they could possibly even be asleep; Unlike their dead marine who also had gunshots to the chest.

 _This is not going to happen again. Not on my watch._ Gibbs tells himself as a woman comes suddenly pushing a gurney onto the scene.

Gibbs frowns at her before looking to the two cops beside him. "No. We're going to wait for my M.E. to get here." he snaps, as the woman stops in her tracks to give him a look.

"Come on, we've been waiting all morning to help these two up." She pleads with a glance to the kids' bodies.

Gibbs only holds out a hand in response. "We wait. My M.E. is almost here." he then whips out a camera from his bag- something that normally one of his field agents would be doing if they weren't on such short notice. "And I don't care how long you've been waiting. I need crime scene photos too." Gibbs points out sharply before the other two cops just give the woman a look.

She huffs before turning away- her gurney squeaking along by her side.

Gibbs then returns his attention to the bodies before going to snap some pics. "Any idea on how these two got in here?" He asks while he works- his camera flashing as he takes another shot.

Both Metro cops eye each other before one shrugs again. "Ehh, My guess is that they were being mischievous. Something that cost them their very lives." He remarks before shifting around a bit.

"Besides, the place is abandoned anyways. Still state property though. Who would want to come in here anyways?" The other cop inputs with a glance around the warehouse's interior.

Gibbs only nods.

 _My guess exactly._ He ponders.

* * *

McGee blinks as he watches Special Agent Tony DiNozzo step into the interrogation room now. The Senior agent's eyes go to the glass for a moment before turning onto Rebecca Phax. This was it. Time for answers.

McGee watches on from the other side of the glass- Observation Room One.

Perhaps the cocky agent would get more results than he did.

 _Let's hope._ McGee thinks willingly.

Tony takes a seat in the chair across from Rebecca- her eyes pointedly towards the floor.

She seemed like a statue. She hasn't moved a muscle since Tony entered.

 _Come on DiNozzo. Be smooth with her now. She's just lost her husband to a psychopathic maniac in a grocery store. You need to take things easy..._ Tony breathes before tapping the table a bit to gain the woman's attention.

She looks up at him finally but with no interest whatsoever.

On the other side of the glass, McGee's face is curled with bewilderment. This woman couldn't be the same Rebecca Phax that he had interrogated earlier could it? She seemed so quiet now...

Tony clears his throat now. "Mrs. Phax?"

The woman blinks at him- as if confirming this was her name.

"I know this must be hard for you. But..." The agent trails off slowly before going to open his folder he had brought in. He reads a few things before looking back at her slowly. "Can you tell me a little bit about this grocery store? _'Fresh From Afar Foods?'"_ He avoids going straight for the subject of her husband. He wanted to wait a little bit before getting to Jerry Phax.

Rebecca's eyes gloss over a bit- as if she were about to cry again; but she refrains and sits up. "I-I... W-We used to shop there. It was my favorite place to get the things I needed." She pauses- her mind clearly deep in thought.

Tony only leans in.

At least she was talking, right?

"A-And... the people there... have always been so nice." She gapes before continuing. "I-I... I can't imagine..." She then trails off and Tony only nods to comfort her a bit.

"Nice people, huh? Yeah, you've gotta enjoy good service." He tries to crack a small smile at her- hoping to brighten her a bit. "I mean... Low prices, right?" He stifles a small chuckle and McGee only rolls his eyes from his standpoint.

Rebecca only nods- not making eye contact though.

 _Keep it together._ Tony instructs himself before going back to his folder again. He didn't want to press her any, but he needed to get to the point of things. McGee had told him of how delicate the woman was to retreating from questions- and he didn't want to make her cry or anything.

"Well, Rebecca..." Tony clears his throat now before inhaling a bit. "I'd like for you to tell me a little bit about Jerry, alright?"

At this, the woman's face saddens dramatically and for a split second Tony expects her to burst into tears- but yet again she holds her own.

"I..." She pauses. "Jerry and I... We were so close. We just clicked, you know?" Her voice hitches and Tony leans in a bit.

"Sure, we had no children. But... We just weren't ready yet." She continues.

Tony only nods. He wanted to get more info on Jerry though and not the two as a couple.

"Did he have any known enemies?" The agent tries to intervene now and Rebecca immediately shakes her head. "No. Everyone liked him." She remarks.

Tony feels like scoffing almost- but he doesn't.

 _Typical. Only makes it harder on us._ He thinks incredulously.

"I mean, he had his ups and downs, sure. B-But he was a great man." She assures herself before looking to Tony. At last she makes eye contact.

He exhales before going for his folder yet again.

 _Alright. Time to step it up._ He decides. He takes out a picture he had printed of the warehouse online- their newest crime scene location. Maybe Rebecca would know of this place and perhaps something will connect.

"Do you by any chance, know of this warehouse?" He asks before setting the photo in front of her. The woman straightens within her seat.

Instantaneously Rebecca's expression falters for a moment as she comes to stare at the picture.

She blinks a bit and this is when Tony wants to practically grin. There was surely a connection to be made here.

 _Gotcha._

 **A/N: Hey everyone! Another cliff hanger! Sorry bout that, haha.**

 **So now the story is beginning to come together. Something is going on ;)**

 **What do you think will happen?**

 **Love the reviews by the way! The feedback has been nonstop gracious! I am so thankful! Please stay tuned for more!**


	10. The Lead

**Chapter 10**

* * *

 **A/N: So thrilled to write more! Happy people are wanting to figure this out too. Thanks for reviewing and please enjoy!  
**

Tony DiNozzo leans in as his victim, Rebecca Phax, stares continuously at the warehouse photo he had given her.

A break through was about to be made here. Obviously this woman knew of the place. But how? The warehouse seemed abandoned for who knows how long.

On the other hand, McGee, who stands onlooking in Observation Room One, now had his face practically against the glass. A connection had been made! Perhaps they were finally going to gain some answers to this bewildering case!

 _I can't believe it! Tony actually managed..._ He thinks gruffly to himself as the Senior agent shifts forward a bit within his chair.

Tony's mouth was killing him to press her for the information concerning her knowledge on their newest crime scene- but he also knew he had to take it slow with this woman. She might crack under pressure and refuse to give anything away.

"Rebecca?" At last he speaks, and the woman barely takes her eyes off of the photo.

"...W-What?" She practically snaps- as if the walls around her were beginning to cave in or something.

Tony exhales.

 _Take is easy._

"Do you perhaps... _know_ of this place?" He finally gets straight to the point and Rebecca Phax just lowers her gaze to the floor.

 _She's definitely holding something back. Look at her... Maybe she even has an idea of the killer!_ At these thoughts, Tony rises from his chair to come and squat down beside the woman. He needed for her to trust him. If they were ever going to find out who killed her husband and make the arrest- they'd need her to cooperate.

"Mrs. Phax. Please. What do you know about the warehouse?" He points his index finger back at the photo that was still lying on the table.

Rebecca purses her lips for a moment before exhaling slowly. She squirms in her chair a bit before opening her mouth. "I-I may know of the place, yes. B-But so what? What's with this picture? Why are we not focused on the grocery store where my husband was killed!?" Rebecca's voice begins escalating and Tony begins to feel like he's losing her.

 _Come on Rebecca. Keep it together. We're almost there._

"Rebecca, we are trying to get to the bottom of things here. But we can't unless you agree to cooperate, alright?" Tony stands to his feet now before straightening his suit.

The woman looks to him before sagging her shoulders. She even hangs her head a little. "Well... You see..." She clears her throat and Tony's attention is completely captivated.

"When I was much younger... I would explore and play around that b-building..." She pauses and her eyes gloss over.

Tony only listens intently.

"And... well, it was rather stupid really. But me and my best friend would go there often. W-We weren't aloud to go out past nine o'clock but we would sneak out of our homes and meet there anyways." She sniffles once before adding, "It was... insane but always fun."

At this, Tony whips out a notepad and pen and begins scribbling notes down onto it. His mind was already churning from her words. This place clearly meant something to this woman. It was like something from her youth. And now all of a sudden her husband ends up dead and two kids are killed in the meet-up joint of her childhood?

There was an unmistakable connection to all of this.

"Hmm, and uh, was this best friend of yours perhaps Jerry?" The Senior agent questions while still writing on his notepad- his brain swarming with newfound questions.

Rebecca falls quiet for several moments before softly replying, "No."

Tony's head jerks up.

That must be it. Perhaps this long-lasting best friend of hers has become indifferent to her in some way? Maybe this guy had been jealous of Jerry?

 _It makes perfect sense now._ His mind reels as he throws himself back into the seat across from Rebecca and he looks her straight in the eye.

"Well, if I may ask, what ever happened to this former 'best friend' of yours?" He inquires and Rebecca only averts her gaze.

"Y-You think that this might have something to do with... him?" She trails off as she practically sobs before bringing a hand up to her forehead.

Tony only leans forward, itching for more from this woman. Evidently, she was the key that connected these two murder cases together.

"Hey! Rebecca please! I need to know the name of this friend of yours." He insists sternly as the first tears begin twinkling down her cheeks. He didn't want for her to cry but he needed answers. He needed for her to get a grip and help out.

"I-I..." She exhales and inhales rapidly. "H-He's a good man, honest! We've stayed friends ever since! For years! I-I just never really..." Rebecca begins stuttering. "I... But then, when I saw that picture of the warehouse... Our secret meeting place..." She shakes her head and finally gains her bearings before sighing. "His name is Garret Halsworth."

* * *

Ziva nods as Kim Hayes finishes her statement on the two kids' crime scene incident. She hadn't expected for the woman to go on and on about her whole morning before actually getting to the scene- but she didn't argue.

"And that's when my dog took off! My cute little Muffsie here-" Kim gestures to her Pomeranian dog. "She like dragged the leash from my hands and like bolted towards that spooky building!" She throws her hands wildly into the air before going to scoop her dog up within her arms. "Probably smelling the nasty blood... That's the last time I'll take this route to work, eh?" The rather large woman chuckles and Ziva only smiles wryly.

The female agent then jots down the last bit of the witness's statement before saying, "Thanks. Think we're done here." And with that, she storms off to find Gibbs- her hand practically aching from the long writing she had to do from that blabbering woman.

 _Why do I always end up with taking the statements?_ She thinks irritably as she enters the warehouse now and comes to spot Gibbs a little ways into the building. He seemed to be finished with taking crime scene photos.

She struts over to her boss- not even bothering to acknowledge some of the onlooking Metro cops who tilted their heads at her as she passed them.

"Gibbs. Finished with Kim Hayes' statement. And gosh was it long." She informs the silver-haired marine as she comes to stand by his side.

Gibbs looks to her with approval. "Good." He then points to an area where some matted pieces of old straw needles lay strewn about along the floor. "This was where the two kids died. Their names were Stewart and Benny." He remarks solemnly to her.

Ziva glances about the scene before shifting her gaze to one of the nearby onlooking Metro cops. Almost all of them were men- and continuously staring at her. She frowns out of excess annoyance.

"Yes, well, are we done here yet Gibbs? I have had enough of the people around here." She mutters towards him; her mind going back to the hectic Kim Hayes all at once.

Gibbs cracks a small grin before nodding. "Yeah. I'll let the Metro folk do the bagging and tagging on this one." He then turns and leads the way out of the abandoned building; his mind slowly going back to his other agents he had left behind back at base.

 _Hope McGee and DiNozzo have gotten a lead this time..._

* * *

Tony closes the door to interrogation behind him- his head in a whirl from the news he had just gotten. He couldn't fathom that Rebecca had known of the warehouse...

He grips his notepad triumphantly before looking up.

McGee is already at his side; his mouth running like wildfire. "Tony! I cannot believe this! Rebecca knew of the place where those two kids were murdered this morning!" he breathes, his eyes wide.

Tony stifles a chuckle as the two begin to walk side by side down the hall and back towards the Squadroom.

"Uhh, yeah. I was present for that Probie." He points out sarcastically and McGee feels like frowning at him.

"Well do you think the killer is her childhood best friend?" McGee only questions rapidly. Things seemed to be making much more sense now.

"Well, I don't know yet. It seems like it though." Tony admits as they enter the bullpen. "I mean... Obviously her best friend could have easily become jealous over Rebecca marrying someone else like Jerry?" He points out rather bluntly and McGee furrows his brow as he takes a seat at his desk.

"Hmm... But then, why murder two random kids? Do you think Rebecca knows them in any way?" He asks doubtfully and Tony shrugs. "Probably not." He then pulls on a ponderous look.

"I'm just spitballing here.. but maybe this 'Garret Halsworth' is literally taking his anger out on Rebecca." Tony leans back within his chair before continuing. "I mean, from what she told me it sounded like she and Halsworth were close. And then she just goes off to marry Jerry? Come on, who _wouldn't_ feel angered." He raises a skeptical eyebrow and almost even chuckles at his own words.

Suddenly though, the sound of elevator doors open and moments later in comes the chatting duo of both Abby and Ducky.

McGee looks up and gives a welcoming look. "Abby! Ducky! What are you guys doing up here?" He greets, and immediately Abby's attention is drawn from her conversation with Ducky.

She smiles wildly before rushing for McGee. "Oh, Hi Timmy! Gosh, it feels like its been ages since I last saw you!" She muses before throwing her arms around him in a hug.

McGee only smiles to himself- however, Tony notices this and smirks.

"Well, Abby! What about poor DiNozzo here? Man, I don't even think I've fully recovered from that poisonous stuff just yet..." Tony makes a sorrowful face while dramatically lowering his gaze towards his hands and instantly Abby rushes for him next.

"You poor thing! You're so right! How are you Tony?" She wraps her arms around him and Tony only slides a prevailing grin towards McGee.

The Probie only rolls his eyes with burning annoyance.

"Well, besides all of this hugging going around..." Ducky now inputs his voice- which causes for Abby to hurriedly break away from her embrace with Tony.

"Oh, right." She mutters before going to stand beside the Scottish Doctor again.

McGee and Tony exchange a look with each other as Ducky begins to speak. "I've come up with another theory pertaining to your case alongside Abigail's findings." He states, and Tony throws his arms behind his head with a new curious expression settling upon his face.

"Well, Abigail here was just telling me that she finished distinguishing the poisons that were found on our Lance Corporal compared to you and Ziva's poison." Ducky motions towards Tony and instinctively the agent's eyes go to his hands.

He still never found out how he and Ziva had attained such poison.

"So, there's a difference?" McGee questions with a confusing look.

Abby nods with a jerky look towards Tony. "Well... Both poisons contain urushiol which causes rashes and itching. However, the stuff on our marine's hands also contained other toxins like Manchineel sap and extracts of the oleander plant." The Goth explains with a clarifying nod.

Tony only screws up his face in uncertainty. "What? Well how on earth did me and Ziva's poison contain less... well... Poison?" He asks with a grimace.

Abby and Ducky look to each other at this.

"That, we don't know yet. I'm thinking the guy didn't have enough resources or something..." Abby guesses rather incompetently with a shrug and McGee's gaze only falls back onto Tony.

"Well I think we might have a name for _'that guy'_. We just got finished with interrogating Rebecca Phax." The Probie begins. "And she said she had a childhood friend that could possibly be linked to both of our murders we're investigating..."

Ducky raises his eyebrows at the news and Abby just stares.

"You've gotten a lead?" The doctor practically smiles.

Both Tony and McGee nod in unison. "Yes. The name's Garret Halsworth." McGee informs and Abby gives a face at the name. "What a mouthful." She mutters and Tony feels like chuckling in agreement with her but he doesn't.

"Well it is simply grand that you two managed to get a leg up on this case. Maybe you're right and this Halsworth fellow is our man?" Ducky hopefully points out.

The two field agents then both start looking things up about this guy and all the while Abby feels rather sullen on helping her team out with the case. She felt like she could do more.

"W-Well everyone, I've been going over every piece of evidence that you've collected and nothing is showing up on AFIS. I think this guy wore gloves or something while doing what he did- And I mean, who wouldn't? He was handling poison for crying out loud..." The forensic scientist notifies everyone with a small disheartened look. Whoever this guy was, he was good.

"It's alright Abs. Soon we'll have this guy. I'm honestly thinking Halsworth is our killer." Tony speaks as his eyes stay glued to his computer screen. He then narrows his eyes as he comes across something interesting.

"Uhh... yeah, this has to be our guy." The Senior agent confirms, and all heads turn towards the man.

"How do you know for sure?" McGee asks curiously.

Tony looks up from his screen and sets his jaw. "Because the guy has been off the grid for a week now. Just checked his credit cards and apartment number. Nobody has seen him or heard from him in a while." He nods in confirmation and begins leaning back. He gives a confident smile. "Ahh, this is it. Perhaps we've found our man but... have we really? I mean, he's off the grid for now." The agent chuckles and McGee only frowns at him. This wasn't a laughing matter.

Ducky gives a small grunt. "Well I suggest we find this man and fast. My guess is that he's planning to use more of that poison." The doctor speculates and both Abby and McGee's eyes widen.

"Y-You think he really has more?" McGee stammers incredulously.

"Oh yes. I really do. And if what you say is true about him having no ties to these kids he probably murdered, then he is only going to murder more innocent people within due time." The Scottish man exhales hesitantly.

Tony sits up straight now and tries to give a comforting glance towards everyone. Things were beginning to seem on edge and he didn't want for anyone to start panicking. "Alright, well... we'll find him. He seems to be targeting places of Rebecca's interest- so perhaps we can start there."

It is only then when the ding of the elevators causes for all eyes to turn to meet their new arrivals.

Gibbs and Ziva both walk into the Squadroom and neither seemed too happy at the moment. They both looked rather worn out from their trip to the newest crime scene.

Tony nonetheless leaps to his feet at the sign of his boss and he prepares to spill out everything at once. He had so much to tell. He wanted to also make sure that he gained the credit for cracking Rebecca for information- but instead, Gibbs only holds up a finger towards his eager Senior agent.

This causes for Tony to bite his tongue, while Ducky and Abby step aside as Gibbs heads straight for his desk. Ziva does the same and practically throws her backpack down beside her chair with a heave.

All was rather quiet and Tony didn't like it one bit.

Finally, Gibbs clears his throat. He looks up at his entire team that were now present with an expecting look in his eyes.

"You all _better_ have me a good lead."

 **A/N: Hey everyone! I feel like this chapter was a very explicit one and it's a little shorter than the last. But, the next chapter will surely pack some interesting outcomes.  
**

 **I'm excited to reveal how this is all going to go down and I am very thankful to everyone who has been reading along :)**

 **Thank you all for the support and for the tips on my writings- so helpful! Hopefully this case will be solved soon, am I right? Please stay tuned and I am exceedingly excited for everyone to enjoy!**


	11. The Plan

**Chapter 11**

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry it's been a few days before my next update- I was on vacation. But I'm back and can't wait to write! Thanks for the reviews! Wow, so many! Makes me feel unworthy! Thank you all!  
**

The situation was dire.

An uneasy tension had settled about the room.

After the Team had finished explaining to Gibbs about their theories and what Tony and McGee had found out concerning Rebecca, there was only about a dozen questions to be answered next.

Who was this _Garret Halsworth?_

Why was he doing this? Did he have unknowing motives or was it just out of jealousy for Jerry towards Rebecca?

Does he have more poison?

If so, is he still planning on using this poison for another attack?

But most importantly- where would he use this poison? And could the next attack be prevented?

"Honestly, Jethro. I truly believe that there may be a possibility of another oncoming attack!" Ducky is still rambling to Gibbs on his conclusions- and all the while nothing but questions swam in Gibbs' head.

He was glad that his team had finally found a lead concerning this strange case- but he still wasn't satisfied. He needed to get this wretched killer off of the streets before someone else's demise takes place.

"Look, Duck. I understand what you're telling me." Gibbs remarks while typing on his computer. Actually, all of his agents were now typing away on their keyboards- in hopes of maybe finding where this Garret Halsworth was staying. It didn't help none that he had gone underground a few days back.

"I just think you all should be cautious. This man may be driven by pure anger- if not envy. Containing one's feelings for a long time- well, it can't be good for anyone as far as I'm concerned." Ducky warns with a look towards his friend and Gibbs only nods solemnly.

He was starting to really believe what their source was telling his team. Perhaps Rebecca Phax's childhood friend was jealous after she had married Jerry instead of him.

It made decent sense- though who would kill for love?

 _The people in this world..._ Gibbs thinks rashly to himself as suddenly McGee's head pops up from his computer.

"Boss, I'm not finding anything. He's off the grid for sure." The Probie confirms with a short glance towards DiNozzo's desk.

Gibbs only grunts in response. Obviously nobody was finding any whereabouts to this man.

"Alright. That's it." He stands to his feet- practically throwing his chair back into the divider-wall behind him and this gains everyone's attentions.

"Boss?" Tony cocks his head with a questioning look.

"We're going to the source. I have an idea." Gibbs states bluntly before taking off at a strutting speed. As he leaves the bullpen- the three field agents look at each other before getting up and going to follow him.

Abby and Ducky- both of which were still lingering around, also goes to accompany the team. Neither wanted to be left out of the loop on this one...

"What do you think he's got planned?" Abby whispers to Ducky as they trail after the field agents and down the interrogation hallway.

"I'm not quite sure yet." Is all Ducky replies as Gibbs turns to his team from at the front of the pack.

"I'm going to talk to her." he announces, and McGee and Ziva exchange a look.

"Clearly the crime scenes have been tied to this woman somehow," Gibbs points to the door containing Rebecca, "So perhaps she can tell us of the next place this psychopath will attack." And with these words, the boss enters the room and slams the door behind him- leaving his team rather speechless.

"Oh yeah... that's smart. Why didn't I think of that?" Tony breaks the rather awkward silence with a chuckle before going to enter Observation Room 1.

The others file in after him; hopes rising on finding this murderer.

Gibbs was right. Both crime scenes connected to Rebecca somehow. So maybe she'd somehow know of another potential targeting area of this guy.

"You really think she'll talk?" Abby questions as she watches Gibbs take a seat across from Rebecca.

"Why shouldn't she?" Ziva answers her with a shrug of one shoulder.

Abby only bites her lip. "Well, I mean, this is her best friend for crying out loud... Would you really just... I don't know, give them up? After all you've been through?" She glances to everyone in turn and McGee furrows his eyebrows at the Goth.

"Abby, but this woman's best friend is a killer! Wouldn't you turn them in if you found out your best friend was poisoning people?" The Probie prompts with a skeptical look and in the end Abby exhales with a sheepish smile.

"...You're totally right. I'd _so_ turn them in." She admits and Tony only grins at the rather humorous defeat.

"Shh!" Ducky hushes next- training everyone's attention back onto the ongoing interrogation.

Gibbs shifts forward within his seat as Rebecca makes uncertain eye contact with her newest questioner. She had been questioned continuously. So, was she still willing to give answers? Would she talk?

Gibbs contains his questions at first. He continues staring at her until finally the woman breaks from the deafening silence and she exhales. "What now? Did you find Garret yet? Did you arrest him?" The troubled woman crosses her arms and her eyes are already glossy again. She was truly a mess at the moment.

Gibbs clears his throat and raises his eyebrows ever so slightly.

"Would you be relieved if I told you we _did_ make the arrest?" The silver-haired marine's voice is low but controlling. He wasn't about to give everything away just yet.

Rebecca only wants to sob- but she doesn't.

"I just want to know if I can go yet... I've been here all day. A-And I want to go home... I want to see Jerry." She mumbles and her voice cracks after every vowel or so.

"Hmmm..." Gibbs clasps his hands together and places them on the table. "Well, Jerry is dead. You can't see him anymore. I'm sorry for your loss, ma'am." He nods his head at her, and meanwhile, Tony only cocks a mischievous eyebrow at the scene from inside Observation.

"D-Did Gibbs just say 'sorry'?" He questions with a smirk and Ducky only turns to the Senior agent with an unamused expression. "He's showing signs of respect, Anthony. I think it's rather noble." The doctor retorts before returning his eyes back to the glass.

Rebecca sniffles a bit but nods at Gibbs. She knew her husband was dead. She just didn't like facing the truth.

"But this Garret guy?" Gibbs' voice pitches in again. "He's still very much alive. And we think... that your old friend Garret _killed_ your husband."

At this, Rebecca shudders and she averts her gaze quickly. "I-I know... I just never thought he would do... such a thing." She practically pouts and Gibbs only stands to his feet so that he's towering over her practically.

"Do you have any idea where he might be? Or where he might be heading?" the questions are blunt but to the point. He didn't want to be wasting anymore time than what they already had on catching this loon.

"Well... Like I already told one of your agents... We would meet at that warehouse you showed me earlier." She hardens her voice a little- as if the memory were distasteful or something.

"Yeah? Where else?" Gibbs presses.

The woman stutters before shrugging frantically. "I-I.. um... I don't know!" She breathes.

"Think about it!" Gibbs finally has had enough of going easy on her. He slams his hand down onto the table which causes for Rebecca to flinch.

She swallows hard before speaking again. "W-Well, try um... try my Uncle Tito's ranch! Yes! W-When my Uncle passed away... I was heartbroken and I felt like... I-I..." She looks around as if feeling awkward. "I needed someone. Jerry was there for me a-and that's also the same place where I told Garret about my relationship with Jerry... For the first time, that is." She lowers her head at the finish of her words and Gibbs only stares at her.

"You sure? You're really sure that he might go there?" Gibbs' eyes are like steel now. He didn't want any games from with woman. But truthfully, she was all they had to go with.

"Yes! He might go there! Honest! My Uncle's name is Tito Gonzales! The ranch is under my name now! Go check!" She literally bellows out anything useful she knew about the place before finally coming to a dull sob. She couldn't take it anymore.

All of this because of her childhood best friend wanting revenge? After all these years? How hectic could things get!?

Gibbs however nods in appreciation before going for the door.

Finally. They had a potential lead for this guy's next attack.

 _Let's hope she's right._ He thinks to himself as he closes the door behind him

* * *

"We heading for Uncle Tito's ranch boss?" Tony questions as the team files back into the Squadroom- so many feelings and tension spiking the atmosphere.

"Yep. Gear up." Gibbs responds sharply while heading for his desk.

McGee only gives a confusing look while getting his stuff together. "We gonna go and shut the place down from the public? Make sure nobody's at risk, right?" The Probie looks to his boss and Gibbs shakes his head.

This gains a bewildering look from both Tony and McGee now.

"No. We're going to wait for the guy. We'll let everyone go home- act all normal. And we'll plan a stakeout there." Gibbs explains his plan with a small impatient look and Ziva smiles at how smart the plan sounded. It would probably even catch this Garret Halsworth off guard.

"Ohh, I get it." McGee nods understandingly.

"Yeah. We've heard no poison attacks from this ranch so far. Obviously the guy hasn't been there yet to plant the poison anywhere. But we'll be ready for him when he does." Gibbs states inevitably before heading for the elevators.

Abby watches them leave with a worrying feeling in her gut. She didn't like it when dire situations came up like this. She didn't like the danger that her friends had to face.

 _But I guess it's all part of the job.._ She exhales. She couldn't help but think back to Tony and Ziva though. They had already been poisoned once. What if they were poisoned again and next time it was fatal?

"Be safe!" She calls as the doors close behind the team.

Ducky is at her side and he too feels no better about the abrupt plan. Everything was unraveling in this case so fast now. What if the man wasn't even planning to show up at this ranch?

What if something went wrong?

"You think they'll get him?" Abby asks after a moment and Ducky only sags his shoulders a bit. "I think... That they better catch him before he tries attacking the entire city with that deadly toxin of his."

* * *

Ziva stares out of the window as the landscape flies by. Gibbs was driving- and all the while McGee was calling up directions to this place from the backseat. Everyone seemed eager to get here. Heck, everyone seemed eager to catch this maniac and end this case.

Nobody wanted a murderer on the loose. And with poison?

 _Hope this works._ The Israeli thinks to herself with a small glance towards Gibbs. Everything seemed to depend on this Rebecca Phax. What if the woman had been lying? Or what if she was in on the attacks?

 _Unlikely._ Ziva tries to assure herself. But one could never be too sure...

"Take a left here!" McGee calls up to the front with his eyes glued to his phone. Gibbs instantly jerks the car down a dusty dirt road. They were clearly approaching the ranch sometime soon.

"So... This plan boss. We're going to act like nothing is going on at first, right?" Tony's unmistakable voice comes from the back. Somehow Ziva had managed to gain shotgun with Gibbs just this once. Normally it would be Tony riding shotgun but this time- considering the situation they were in, the Senior agent didn't argue.

"Yeah. This place probably has workers here. Maybe even visitors, who knows." The Boss answers gruffly.

"A-And we'll wait until everyone goes home and _then_ we'll stakeout?" McGee wants to be entirely sure of this plan and Tony only nods to the Probie.

"Didn't you hear the man?" Tony scoffs dramatically and Ziva only tunes the bickering agents out as she shifts her gaze back out onto the road ahead of them. Just up ahead one could make out a large barn-like structure.

The ranch.

"Hopefully we will get him Gibbs. I know it." Ziva tries a little reassurance towards Gibbs but the man's eyes never leave the dirt road ahead.

They had limited time before another attack would probably appear. The guy was becoming a mass murderer.

All because of a woman...

"Hey, at least we have some sort of idea of where he's heading. He is targeting Rebecca's places..." Ziva goes over the already-known facts on the case and next Tony pitches his voice into the conversation up front.

"Yeah, but tell me why he went for the grocery store? Why that place?" The quirky DiNozzo gives a confusing look and Ziva only rolls her eyes. "He killed Jerry there remember? He probably led him in there or something... Who knows right now." She tries to appease his confusion.

Tony only gapes his mouth lamely. "Yeah, but come on. Why murder in the grocery store? Why not like wait for some other place or somethin'?"

At this, Gibbs sends a glare to his Senior agent through the rear view mirror and instantly Tony shuts up.

"Almost there Boss! Should be up ahead..." McGee's voice then rings through the car and Ziva looks to finally spot the ranch. Fences filed around a large barn with silos dotting the grassy surroundings.

The car speeds past onlooking cattle and lazy bulls before finally turning into the main driveway... or, dirt-way considering there was no cement anywhere.

"This it?" Tony questions like a child from the backseat and instantly Gibbs brings the car to an immediate stop before swinging his door open.

"Guess so." Tony then mumbles to himself before going to open his door.

The place smelled of manure, dirt, and animals. But, what else did one expect to smell on a ranch?

"We're here. And I am guessing he is not- yet." Ziva states while coming around the car to stand beside Gibbs.

McGee peers around the place through squinting eyes. The sunset was hot and blazing causing for the atmosphere to be intense.

"Guess we go look around. We'll also have to park the car somewhere else so that it can't be seen by Halsworth when he pulls in- assuming he's even coming at all." Tony points out rather skeptically and Gibbs only nods.

"Yeah." He then turns to his agent before shoving the car keys forward.

"You do that, DiNozzo. We'll go ahead in."

Tony blinks before frowning. "What?"

"You heard me." Gibbs shifts his stance and almost even wants to grin a little. But he doesn't- with his mind being too drawn into the dire situation.

"You kiddin' me?" The younger agent groans before slowly taking the keys and sighing.

He then turns and heads towards the driver's side door of the car. He grunts irritably as he throws the door open and turns the ignition on. "This is gonna be a long night... Again."

 **A/N: Yet again, sorry for the long wait on posting! The story is finally coming to its conclusion! Can't wait to finish this soon :) Couple more chapters is needed though! You wonder what's going to go down at this ranch, right? Please stay tuned and I love all of my readers!  
**

 **I will try and post more frequently!**


	12. Stakeout

**Chapter 12**

* * *

The plan to catch this crazy murderer was about to be set into action within a few hours. Garret Halsworth was now the team's lead suspect towards this crucially dire case and the plan was to catch him at this ranch around nightfall if and whenever he came around. Rebecca had stated that this ranch was the place she had told Garret of her feelings for Jerry. Perhaps Garret Halsworth was looking to seek revenge upon this hard-working ranch...

But how could someone be so cruel to take his wrath and pain out on other people? How about those two kids he killed with poison back at the warehouse? Halsworth was now deliberately going after innocent people because of how he felt. Hopefully he'd show up here tonight so that his attacks can be brought to a close.

It was merely a major theory. But with no other leads to go on- the team had decided to take Rebecca Phax's word for it.

Once Gibbs, McGee, and Ziva starts to head into the main barn's entrance, a man with a cowboy hat makes eye contact with them and starts heading their way. The man already didn't seem too pleased to see them.

Gibbs instinctively goes to flash his badge and credentials at the man before speaking. "Hey partner." Gibbs tries to ease the quick-rising tension with this aggressive looking man. He needed everyone's full cooperation if this plan to catch Halsworth was ever going to work. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs from NCIS and we've-" but Gibbs is cut off abruptly by the man's thick country accent.

"I ain't yer partner. And what are you feds doin' here?" The man has a dense face with burly arms. He is obviously a ranch hand- who helped with running the place.

"U-Uh... Sir, we've come here out of suspicions that this place is going to be visited by-" McGee tries to begin his explanation for the team but Gibbs turns to give him a look- his eyes cold. This causes for McGee to drop his words. The plan had been _not_ to inform anyone of what was about to go down here. They didn't want to spook anyone and cause for preparations to be made so that when Halsworth arrives he might notice something's up.

"What? Whose gonna visit this here place? The President or somethin'?" The ranch-hand questions with a narrow of his eyes. His patience was already running dry.

"No. We are. Federal Agents. That is us." Ziva goes to cover for McGee's mistake and thankfully the ranch-hand seems to buy it.

"Well... That's awfully nice but do you got a warrant for being here? I'd like to think this place is private property." The man goes to cross his arms now with a rather confident look flashing in his pale eyes. Gibbs shifts so that he is at his full height. If he were going to have to lie about owning a warrant to be on these grounds then he was about to do it.

It's then however, when another voice comes to break the rather brittle conversation. This voice is not so deep and actually sounds welcoming. It is another ranch-hand.

"No, Daniel. The place isn't private property. It's owned by the government actually." A leaner looking man comes to stand beside this towering Daniel.

"You guys can relax and stay however long you'd like. This really isn't the way we welcome guests." The leaner man adds with a look towards the NCIS agents.

Gibbs only sets his jaw and McGee nods thankfully towards the man.

"My name's Ted. Daniel here was just being finicky that's all." Ted remarks with a playful nudge towards the burly-armed mass.

"Finicky? Now wait just a darn second. This here ranch _is in fact_ private property!" Daniel only seems to want to argue. Ted however only rolls his eyes. "When Mr. Tito died, the place became the government's. Remember?" He then just turns his attention back to the awaiting agents.

"Sorry about that. We'll be leaving here shortly anyways. Shift's almost up. Might I ask though, why you're here exactly?" Ted leans in with slight curiosity in his eyes before Gibbs only shrugs. "Need to check up on some things. Don't worry though." And with this blunt explanation, Daniel and Ted both just share a look with each other.

"Uh... Okay? Have a look around then." Ted then heads off outside- leaving Daniel to continuously stare at the NCIS agents. He did not like them being on this ranch.

Gibbs though didn't care what these 'ranch folk' thought. He was intending to bring this crook down. Telling Daniel and Ted about the plan to apprehend a murderer on their ranch would only cause trouble- if not panic.

"W-Well.. that was.. welcoming." McGee frowns to himself as Daniel finally heads back over to some pitchforks and shovels around the barn's outskirts.

Gibbs only chuckles slightly to himself before turning to his team. "Get comfy. It's gonna be a while."

Suddenly though, more footsteps began making their way upon gravel over towards the agents.

Everyone turns to only find a sweaty looking Tony DiNozzo making his way into the barn. The agent had his usual sunglasses on his face and his expression wasn't too thrilled. "I cannot believe this heat! Having to park way out in the woods so that Halsworth wouldn't see the car, and then having to trek _all_ the way back up here within this blistering sun!" Tony's voice is agonizing and Gibbs only grins.

"Nice of you to join us DiNozzo." The Boss remarks and Ziva only smiles contently with the situation.

* * *

The sun was no sooner setting than was Daniel, Ted, and a couple other ranch-hands heading for their own cars. The shift was up- but they'd surely be back tomorrow.

"You all still here?" Ted asks with a brisk voice as he comes jogging up to the agents one last time once the team has had a look around the place.

"Yes. We might be leaving soon." Ziva quickly lies- though her emotions and voice tone give nothing away.

Gibbs only nods in agreement with the woman. Their night was only beginning.

"Nice place you got here. Big place." Tony chuckles to the man with a grin before coolly placing his hands into his pockets.

Ted tips his large hat in response. "Thanks. Mighty kind of ya." He then clasps his hands together before heading for the dusty-gravel walkway that headed for the parked cars.

Things were winding down.

"Only a matter of time now, Boss." McGee states before going to sit down on a wooden chair that sat solemnly in the corner.

Gibbs turns and gives the Probie a look. "We're not here to relax. We should start getting prepared for Halsworth." Gibbs instructs matter-of-factually and instantly McGee is back on his feet. "Yes Boss."

Gibbs then begins scanning the ranch and its structures. There were three main barns- the main one of which they stood now.

 _If I were Halsworth... I'd probably try and get the poison around the main barns._ Gibbs thinks to himself. That's where most harm could be done- seeming this was where most people went.

"Alright. This is what we're going to do..." Gibbs wiggles his index finger- beckoning his team closer into more of a huddle.

The field agents give each other looks as they move in. "I want Ziva in the far left outbuilding. McGee, I want you in the right." Gibbs points to each barn in turn from where they stood.

"Me and DiNozzo will be in the main one we're in now." Gibbs contiues and Tony only gives a small look. "We're splitting up Boss?" He questions.

McGee and Ziva both look to their assigned destinations before turning back to Gibbs. Ziva gives a confident and rather excited look while McGee only swallows hard. He didn't want to be in some dark barn alone from everyone. Besides, what if Halsworth decided to show up at his barn first?

"This isn't a debate, DiNozzo. It's the best way we can locate Halsworth if and when he does make a go for this place." Gibbs describes sincerely before glancing back outside. His gaze sweeps the lands of cattle and hay-bales. Something in his gut feels uneasy- but what is it?

 _Perhaps Rebecca is right. Maybe this guy is our murderer. And I have a feeling.. he's probably going to show up tonight._

Gibbs shifts his attention back onto his anticipating agents. Each held their own unique expression towards this plan.

McGee was still looking nervous while Ziva continuously was showing signs of dependency. Tony only looked unsure of what to think.

"What um.. what happens if Garret Halsworth shows up? What do we do?" McGee asks with a wild glance over his shoulder- as if someone or something was listening to every word that was being devised.

"I trust you can apprehend this guy. Right, McGee?" Gibbs raises an eyebrow at his agent before adding, "If something happens we'll know. We'll use our ear wigs and communications to inform each other when and where this guy appears." Gibbs motions his team to pay attention again before going into his NCIS jacket pocket and pulling out their ear wigs for this assignment.

McGee however still didn't like the thought of being split up from everyone.

"Do not worry Gibbs. This will be the last place this guy strikes." Ziva assures with a definite look before being handed her ear wig. The agents' communication wiring were already hooked up inside of their vests. So they were now ready to go.

"That's it then? We wait for this guy to come and just grab him?" Tony asks incredulously after a few moments and Gibbs exhales in response. "What more are you expecting, DiNozzo?" The silver-haired marine then begins searching for a good hiding spot for himself. He wanted for him and Tony to stay within the same barn but still hold different positions.

"Go. And don't use your flashlights unless you absolutely must." Gibbs instructs the queasy looking McGee and he nods understandingly.

Ziva then heads back outside and towards the left-hand outbuilding which loomed against the darkening sky. McGee turns for the right and swallows hard. He needed to take up his position and he wasn't going to let anything get in his way.

Tony watches his co-workers leave before turning towards his boss again. This was seriously about to happen.

"So uh... where will you be?" He gestures around the large building they stood in and Gibbs motions towards a couple of barrels and wooden planks over within a pitch dark corner.

Tony smirks rather outdone. Where would he go?

 _Hmm..._ He turns to look for a great hiding spot. He then simply spots the area behind the two large doors that that created the entrance to the barn.

 _If I hid behind one of the doors- Halsworth surely won't be able to see me there..._ He nods towards his newly chosen hiding spot and Gibbs acknowledges this choice with a raise of his eyebrows.

...

Meanwhile, Ziva trudges over the beaten gravel pathway towards her designated building. Soon it would be time to take action. Soon Halsworth would surely show up. And soon this case just might be able to come to a close...

She had hated that she and Tony had been poisoned earlier within the week. But how? How exactly had it happen?

 _One of us must have touched our gloves or something once finished helping Abby with the evidence._ She tells herself as she approaches the entrance to her barn. She turns to look at how close she was to McGee's barn.

She could see its towering silhouette against the blackening sky within the distance.

It was a good ways off- though it was a little closer than Gibbs and Tony's place was.

This stakeout was very different so far. Staking out typically meant staying together. But this time, Ziva and her team were split up.

Not that she minded. She was perfectly capable of being on her own- in fact, sometimes she even enjoyed it. She worked best alone.

She finally enters the dark building. Nothing inside stirred- which was relatively a good sign.

 _Okay. Where should I hide?_ She asks herself as she steps stealthily into the black darkness. She could hardly see; so she waits a moment so her eyes can adjust to her black surroundings.

Within seconds her eyes begin making out objects within the room. She steps farther into the barn before looking back over her shoulder. All was quiet.

 _Let me see..._ Upon her thoughts, she lifts her head upwards to find nothing but wooden rafts and support bars running across the upper section of the barn. There was even a hay loft off towards the right.

She grins to herself with sudden satisfaction.

 _Perfect._

* * *

McGee cautiously edges into his assigned barn. The place was eerie and one could hear nothing but crickets chirping nearby.

He swallows hard as he makes his way in- his hand tempted to reach for his flashlight.

 _No. Not unless it is dire._ He tells himself. He didn't want to give his whole team away for turning on his flashlight. He could easily do this without any light... right?

It is suddenly when his comm system starts speaking; the familiar voice of Gibbs warps around him from his wire. "Everyone in position?"

A reply comes from both Tony and Ziva. McGee however hesitates to give his confirmation. He needed to hide himself first.

Nonetheless, he was already at his barn- so he replies with a "I'm good'. Before turning his attention back onto the dark situation.

He looks around- wondering whether bats or large insects lived within this barn...

 _I was once a boyscout though..._ He reminds himself and begins reminiscing of his youthful memories. It is then when he spots a few crates and boxes lodged over within a corner of the room. He heads for the crates and tries to bend down behind them.

He frowns at his sorry attempt.

 _This isn't going to work._ He snaps at himself. His head was fully exposed. Someone could definitely notice a man's head peeking out behind some boxes...

He then gains an idea as he notices more and more around the large spacious barn.

What if he placed more things on the crate? This would shield him fully.

He goes looking around for anything that might seem normal to place on a box. He then simply comes across a saddle that is hung over a wooden peg.

This would do.

He grasps at the rather dust-covered saddle and attempts to haul it up but he finds the thing to be extremely heavy. He grunts as he tries again- only to fail with his arms aching.

"Oh come on..." he mutters to himself before going to use his full strength for a final try. This time, he manages to pick it up and begins shifting it towards the boxes. He exhales once he places the heavy saddle atop the boxes before going to crouch down again. Now he was covered. And now he had his hiding spot...

 _Guess I'm ready..._

* * *

Abby sits stiffly in her lab- her head down. She couldn't stop worrying about her friends. Her mind literally couldn't think about anything else at the moment.

She hated when they went out like this. The danger. The perils.

But then again, that was their job.

She sighs to herself before gloomily looking over towards the phone that sat perched on her desk. She felt like calling Gibbs. But she knew that it wouldn't be a good idea.

Heck, she could even ruin the whole stakeout from calling Gibbs' cell.

She frowns and sags her shoulders only even lower.

She then shifts her gaze over towards the remaining crates which contained nothing but more evidence bags. She only had a few more items to run down before they'd be locked into the evidence chamber.

So far, nothing deemed too worthy from the countless evidence that had been collected.

 _All of those evidence bags... all of those food items... Oh, how much fun it is to scan every little thing for prints._ She thinks rather sourly.

She blinks before immediately regretting this thought though. She loves her job- even down to the tedious work such as scanning for prints on any and every piece of evidence that was given to her.

So why was she acting like this?

She quickly decides to get her act together and so she gets to her feet before going to stand before the last three crates of evidence which remained on her table.

She bites her lip before she slowly reaches for some latex gloves. She then starts to unbag some of the last few items to scan them for prints.

She is trying to concentrate on her work when suddenly the elevator dings. She twitches as she immediately thinks of Gibbs- but she knows it cannot be him.

"Abigail? How are you coping down here?" She turns to find Ducky standing in her doorway. Ducky was so sweet- he couldn't leave her alone even for thirty minutes. He had to continuously check up on her so that she'd be alright.

"Oh hey again Ducky. I'm fine... really." She tries a smile but it fails.

Ducky notices before giving her a small look. "Abigail. Everyone is going to be alright." He tries to assure her with a hopeful glint in his eyes and Abby only nods. Everyone tells her that. Perhaps she worries too much?

"Honestly Ducky. I'm okay. In fact, I'm feeling a whole lot better suddenly." She talks while she works and she continues to scan the last items for prints.

Ducky is about to reply with a rather objecting look when suddenly one of Abby's alarms goes off. Her computer dings loudly and both Abby and Ducky turn to it.

"What might that mean, my dear?" Ducky gestures towards the computer screen and Abby's eyes light up.

She quickly goes to type a few things in onto her keyboard before some results flash up onto her screen. She gapes.

"I-I got a match! I actually got a fingerprint match Ducky!" She yells in a shocking manner. She didn't expect this one bit.

Ducky only leans in with widening eyes. "Oh?"

"Yeah! This entire case, there's been like _zilch_ when it comes to fingerprints! The guy is good!... But not that good!" She beams proudly now before going to read the name. She falters though once her eyes come into contact with what the results say.

She feels her heart skip a beat and Ducky only gives her an impatiently worried look. "Well?" He presses.

Abby turns to him. "W-We've been wrong. Our guy isn't Garret Halsworth!" She breathes.

"It's his brother! Adrien Halsworth!"

 **A/N: Plot twist! Abby finds more to the case. Hope this is still interesting and I hope you've enjoyed the story so far! My first crime story haha. Almost there though!**

 **Cannot wait to end this and I am so thankful for everyone's continuous reviews. You know who you all are :)**


	13. Halsworth

**Chapter 13**

* * *

 **A/N: Had a very crazy and time-consuming week! Hope you enjoy though!**

The stakeout had officially begun. Nightfall had come. Tony shifts uncomfortably within his hiding spot behind the large barn doors. Time was passing inevitably and he was getting stiff from standing so long.

Cobwebs tickles the back of his neck and he grimaces uneasily at the feeling. He really wished he had picked a different spot to hide in. Who chooses behind the door anyways?

 _Hope this guy isn't long._ He thinks to himself as he feels for his gun at his side.

His hand runs along the handle. At any given moment he'd be able to pull his weapon out and use it if needed. Of course their priority was to come and 'apprehend' this man before arresting him... but sometimes Gibbs just didn't like waiting for the arrest part. He'd just go for the kill...

Which of course, didn't bother Tony.

He tries to remain still. He feels like moving but wouldn't. Any noise could possibly alert Halsworth of their presence.

After a few more long agonizing minutes of complete nothingness and boredom, Tony attempts to peer out and look for Gibbs. The man was literally covered in shadows and Tony seriously couldn't pin-point where his boss was.

 _Whoa. A master of the darkness!_ He jokes to himself with awe before going back to his position. It really felt like he was alone within this creepy barn... But nonetheless, he knew that Gibbs was there...

* * *

Abby still has her eyebrows raised. She had made a major discovery!

The murderer, all this time, had not been Garret Halsworth! But his brother! Adrien!

"D-Ducky! This is extreme! I-I need to tell Gibbs about this!" She explains while going for the phone. All this time! Rebecca had been wrong? But how? She seemed so confident?

"No, wait! Abigail hold on..." Ducky reaches for her arm so that her attention is dragged from the phone.

"What? I have to let Gibbs know!" Abby remarks hurriedly, but Ducky only exhales and looks her in the eye. "Abigail. You said so before... You might interrupt their stakeout. What if calling them causes for something to go wrong? I think we should wait this one out..." The doctor tries to calm Abby by placing his hands on her shoulders, but she couldn't bring herself to calm down.

"W-Well..." She trails off, knowing that Ducky had a valid point. But what was she to do?

"Either way- whether it is Garret or his brother, Adrien, Gibbs is going to catch whoever will be there tonight. Do not worry. He will figure it out eventually- I guess once they come into contact with the killer." Ducky explains rather slowly. Not even he liked the idea of Jethro going unaware of this finding... but he couldn't let Abby call the man for certain reasons.

"For now, let's try to focus more on our findings." The Scottish man suggests with a gesture towards her computer screen.

Abby nods hesitantly before following his lead. She goes to check up on this Adrien Halsworth. How could the agents have missed this guy?

But she quickly finds out...

"Oh... Well there's like.. hardly nothing on this guy Ducky." She points to the computer screen and frowns.

Ducky only peers at her. "Well, why not?" He questions.

She shrugs and gives a confused look. "I'm not sure." She types some more things up on her keyboard before raising an eyebrow. "He too is off the grid... of course he is." She muses with a fixated expression. Things were not looking too good.

Ducky though only tips his head to one side. "Wait. If Adrien Halsworth is our man- seeming you found his fingerprints at the crime scene.. and he's off the grid... then where is his brother? Where is Garret? I mean he's off the grid as well, is he not?" Ducky's face turns grave and Abby only suppresses a shiver from the thought of there being two killers on the loose now.

"Y-You're right..." She says shakily before swallowing hard. "So like.. how does Adrien tie into all of this? He had nothing to do with Rebecca?"

* * *

McGee shuffles into a better sitting position. His legs were beginning to feel numb.

 _Oh great... this is just great._ He thinks tiresomely to himself. He did not like being in some creepy dark barn while waiting for a poisonous killer to emerge from the darkness... but then again, this was his job. And he was determined to catch this guy.

He sits back and waits. For anything.

He waits for sounds or footsteps or... something.

But nothing ever comes.

Aside from the chirping of the noisy crickets and the occasional creak of the wooden barn that surrounds him... all was deathly quiet.

Sometimes the wind would blow hard from outside. But other than that?

Nothing was comforting.

McGee shifts so that his legs are now practically criss-crossed. He hated stakeouts.

However, he'd sit here the whole night if it meant arresting this lunatic.

 _Hopefully Halsworth won't choose to come to this barn first..._ He thinks slowly.

Suddenly a noise comes from nearby- as if right on que. A sound comes from the slightly parted doorway to the barn and immediately McGee is on edge. The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Could it be?

He sits up straight; his heart beating loudly like a poor meager animal's would while being hunted from something oblivious nearby...

 _T-This is it! It's now or never-!_ But the Probie's hectic and panic-stricken thoughts are interrupted as a small wild hare comes peering into the barn.

McGee blinks at the little creature with horrid confusion before instantly letting out a long sigh. Obviously this wasn't what he was expecting.

Disappointment and relief wash over him and he frowns irritably at himself. Within a few seconds the hare vanishes from the doorway.

"A rabbit. Geez Tim... You going to arrest Bugs Bunny or something?" He remarks sarcastically to himself before heaving another long sigh. If Tony were here, who knows what he'd say...

 _I really need to pull it together._ He tells himself before settling back down into his hiding spot.

...

Ziva sits impatiently within the hay loft. How long had it been since she first arrived here? Time was dragging on as if nothing were ever going to happen. She checks her wrist watch and nearly sighs before peering over and down onto the ground below.

Nothing.

As usual.

What was she expecting? For Halsworth to come in? For him to pick her barn structure first? She'd be notified by her team if he shows up elsewhere...

But here? It was her job. And she was ready for him. For anything at that.

Another long twenty minutes drags on. The eerie silence soon becomes deafening. Would they even catch this guy tonight?

She is about to lean back to get comfortable on some of the hay and straw that sat motionlessly around her- when suddenly it's as if her thoughts had come true.

A scuffling noise. A small sound- Coming from outside...

The trained Mossad assassin pauses in her own breathing and listens intently for the sound. Had she imagined it?

More scuffling noises. No. _This was real._

Ziva instantly sits up and ever so slowly shifts so that she would be unseen by anything or anyone who enters the barn below.

Her heart is already racing and so she uses her arms to lower herself down onto the wood before peering over the edge. Perhaps this was Halsworth?

She slows her breathing and creates absolutely no sound whatsoever.

A tension settles on her as she waits and listens. More sounds come from just outside her barn. Someone was definitely outside. She recognizes the sounds as footsteps. A human. This had to definitely be Halsworth.

 _Perhaps this is our man. This is exactly whom we have come for..._ She is tempted to speak into her comm system to inform the others of her findings- but she waits for a better moment. She didn't want to alert whoever was just downstairs.

She cranes her neck some more to check if the person had actually come into her barn now. Nothing.

 _Where is he?..._ She waits a little while more before the scuffling noises begin to suddenly fade.

Ziva tenses before sitting up. She had to follow him. He was getting away!

She stealthily begins making her way down the stairs of the hayloft and onto the dark ground. Once she looks around at her surroundings, she pulls out her gun and holds it to her side before heading for the doors of the barn. Determination and ambition to catch this guy fuels her every movements and she moves forward without making any noise.

She peers outside quickly- and once she notices nobody nearby she parts the doors with ease and slips out into the cool night air.

Complete darkness swallows her whole. A soft, dull moonlight is all she has to light her path- but this was just enough for her see. She was trained for these moments.

She glances around wildly for her evader. Halsworth was on the move and she needed to know where he was heading- if this was even him.

The dark silhouettes of trees dot the distance against the night sky and she peers hard through the moonlight at any signs of movement.

It is then when she spots it. A low-creeping figure moving fast towards the direction of Tony and Gibbs' barn.

Ziva's mind reels.

 _Halsworth._

She rapidly begins whispering into her comm system. "Tony, Gibbs, I am outside of my building at the moment. Someone is heading your way. I think it is Halsworth and he is moving fast." Upon finishing her report to the others, she instantly takes off for Gibbs and Tony's place. They'd need all the help they could get to bring this guy down.

...

Tony and Gibbs both shift onto high-alert from the income of Ziva's voice. Halsworth had finally been sighted- and he was heading their way.

Gibbs steadies his breathing and goes stiff while listening for any sounds.

He was ready for this guy- more than ever now.

He hated going on stakeouts overall but this was normally the best surprise-attack against someone.

Suddenly another voice comes in from over the comm system. It is McGee's.

"Boss, you want me to head that way and help?" Comes the Probie's low tone. Gibbs pauses for a moment while thinking of his strategy.

"Negative, McGee. Stay exactly where you are." He whispers back before going quiet again. He wanted to make sure that Halsworth didn't try and make a break for it and escape.

He sits and waits for any audible sound of footsteps. Within a mere few seconds though, he picks something up. A light-weight figure. Barely detectable- but Gibbs is far too skilled for this and makes out some movement. He listens as the silent trespasser comes within closer range. The person is moving fast.

Suddenly, the quick-footed being comes into show and appears slowly at the doorway to the barn. Gibbs whips out his gun- only to instantly recognize his dark-haired female agent.

 _Ziva._ He lowers his gun immediately and steps out from his hiding spot- just slightly.

"Ziva? Where is Halsworth?" Gibbs whispers- and this gets Tony to peer out from his own hiding place.

Ziva's eyes widen as she looks all around the barn. She had obviously thought he had entered already.

"I-I thought I saw him heading this way..." She murmurs back through the thick darkness. She lowers her gun and glances over her shoulder- as if expecting to see someone.

Gibbs feels like sighing impatiently yet he knew how skilled of an agent she was. So where was Halsworth now?

As if to answer everyone's unsettling question- the comm system buzzes in. "U-Um Boss..." The voice is low and panic-stricken. It is McGee's.

Ziva and Gibbs' eyes meet in a snap. Halsworth had obviously cut back and had headed for McGee's barn.

"Come on. With me. DiNozzo, I want you here in case Halsworth decides to make a run for it." Gibbs orders rather hurriedly now before heading for the doors with Ziva at his side. The Senior field agent watches them leave with a slow swallow before shifting back into his dark hiding place.

Once outside Ziva immediately feels like uttering an apology. But she knew that this wasn't the time- and it also had not completely been her fault. She had needed time to scan her surroundings in case Halsworth had been waiting to ambush her.

"This way, hurry." Gibbs mutters as he and Ziva sprint through the tall uncut grasses of the ranch.

Things weren't going too swiftly as of right now...

* * *

Tony waits and listens as Gibbs and Ziva's soft footsteps fade into the distance of the large property. Their killer had double-crossed them and now McGee was stuck with Halsworth.

 _Hopefully the Probie can hold his own against a poisonous killer... right?_ Tony didn't like thinking negatively during times like this- so he simply chose to think positively. Even if sometimes that meant thinking unrealistically.

Suddenly though- a new sound catches Tony's attention and he twitches his head. The sound of car on gravel. DiNozzo gapes his mouth in disbelief at what he was hearing before shifting out of his hiding place.

Someone was pulling into the ranch?

He quickly sneaks for the door before instantly locking his eyes onto a black rusty truck- its headlights beaming brightly and slicing through the darkness of outside.

Confusion warps his mind.

 _Oh no._

Who was this? Who could possibly be pulling up at this hour?

 _What should I do? Inform Gibbs?_

He hurriedly mutters some things into the comm system before getting a loud 'What?!' back from Gibbs. Nobody was prepared for this.

He waits as the truck pulls all the way up to the front of the main barn before shifting forwards. This was totally going to falter their plan. What if Halsworth hears the truck and decides to run?

 _Who is this guy anyways?_ Tony asks himself angrily before heading straight for the truck- its headlights shutting off within a matter of moments.

Tony steps forward and draws his gun into hand before pointing it towards the shadowy figure of the driver. "This is NCIS! Get out slow with your hands on your head!" He lowers his voice however so that only he and the person sitting in the truck could hear. He didn't want to yell and screw their whole stakeout- if it hadn't already been blown anyhow...

The figure throws it's hands up rapidly before opening the door slowly. "W-Wait! D-Don't shoot! Please!" A man's voice calls. He obviously had not been expecting to be caught here at this time of night...

What was this guy doing here anyhow?

"Who are you!? Get out! Now!" Tony demands again before finally losing his patience. He unhooks his flashlight from his holster before flipping it on and shining it towards the man's face.

DiNozzo's eyes grow wide as he recognizes the man.

" _Garret_ Halsworth?" He breathes in utter disbelief.

Garret looks equally confused- if not terrified. "P-Please! Don't shoot!" He pleads again before stepping out onto the gravel. His eyes look around frantically before he speaks again. "Y-You don't understand!" His bottom lip practically trembles while Tony merely frowns down on the man. How was _this_ Halsworth?

"I-If you're Halsworth... then who is-?" Tony begins slowly trying to put the pieces together. Obviously their suspect had not been Garret all along...

His head is spinning now.

Who had Ziva seen running across the ranch? And who was at McGee's barn?

Garret still has his hands above his head and he swallows hard.

"I-It's my brother... Adrien."

 **A/N: Aha! We're coming to the close of the story! Been so fun to write! Thank you all for reading! :)**


	14. The Outcome

**Chapter 14**

* * *

Tony's mind is still reeling from the major discovery. He had just apprehended Garret Halsworth but... this was _not_ the man that Ziva had seen earlier.

"Garret?" Tony says the man's name again in total astonishment.

Garret Halsworth only nods vigorously. "I-It's my brother, man! It's Adrien! I-I don't know what's up with him but you have to listen to me!" Garret's voice is frantic yet stern- as if complete confidence was all that was holding him together.

Tony still has his gun pointed at the man. There was no way he could just trust this guy- heck, he had been the main suspect all along!

He tries to shake his head from the swarming questions that now troubled him and he goes to speak into his comm system.

"Uh... Boss, we've got a problem."

* * *

McGee has his gun clenched within his hands. His heart is pounding. He knows this time it ain't no wild hare that's outside...

This was different.

This was Halsworth.

While sitting here silently to himself- he had just got word from Ziva that she had finally spotted Halsworth. But within a few minutes later- footsteps and scuffling noises began making themselves known just right outside his barn's door.

 _He's here..._ McGee now thinks to himself as he holds his breath and fidgets ever so slightly. He wasn't ready for this..

No.

He was.

Oh, he didn't even know!

He knew the Boss was going to come aid him for this apprehension but would he be on time? Or would he be too late?

Suddenly, as if the whole world were now holding its breath, the barn door creeks open- sending an eerie ear-splitting noise ricocheting around the place. McGee is on edge and his eyes are huge as moons now.

Footsteps lightly sound around the barn's external structure and it is then when McGee spots the dark man's face simply peering into the barn.

Timothy McGee's breath hitches within his throat.

Halsworth!

The dark eyes flit around the room- as if he were scanning his surroundings for anyone perhaps like McGee.

The Probie stays concealed by his boxes that he hid behind- but would it be enough?

Finally, as if accepting that the place seems clear, the man steps slowly into the room at last...

This however, was not the man that McGee had expected to see.

This man was different from what Garret Halsworth looked like from within the pictures online.

 _W-Who on earth is this guy?_ McGee thinks incredulously to himself.

The man has piercing amber eyes with a long pointed nose and a light scruffy black beard that clings to his face tightly. McGee nonetheless recalls Garret with having brown hair and not black... So, who is _this_ man?

 _Doesn't matter... Maybe it could even be a disguise? I-I have to catch him anyhow..._ He tells himself. This was his big moment.

He notices that the man did not appear to be carrying a weapon so this completely makes the situation easier.

Timothy counts to three before finally throwing himself out from behind his boxes and he snaps his gun up.

"NCIS Federal Agent! Freeze! Don't move!" He yells as best and as clearly as he can. Upon revealing himself, the man instantly ignores McGee's demands and jerks for the door.

 _Dang it!_ McGee quickly takes off after the suspect and rapidly charges out the door. The night air instantly blasts into his face as he turns and sees the man heading for one of the nearby cattle fences.

"Stop!" McGee yells loudly- but it is no use.

The man leaps onto the fence and jumps it like a hurdle with ease. McGee follows in hot pursuit. He clamors over the fence roughly before turning to see the figure running for the front of the ranch.

 _Great._

This causes for McGee to hurriedly climb back over the fence- in fear of disturbing any of the bulls or cattle, and begins talking into his comm system.

"B-Boss! I-I have him on the run! He's-" But McGee is cut off from speaking as footsteps sound behind him suddenly. He turns to see both Gibbs and Ziva coming to stand beside him- their chests heaving from their recent run.

"I know, I see him McGee!" Gibbs snaps before coming to a halt beside the Probie and Ziva only simply begins darting off along the side of the fence in the direction of the man. She was determined not to lose him.

"H-He wouldn't stop and now he's heading for-" McGee tries to explain his situation but Gibbs just nods as if understanding the whole thing and this causes for McGee to trail off again.

"He won't make it far..." Gibbs mutters before placing his gun back into its holster. McGee, who is still panting from the chase, only looks to his boss with confusion. How were they ever going to catch him now? And why wasn't the boss concerned about the guy getting away?

Suddenly though, as if to answer his questions, there comes a giant uproar from the field just adjacent to them.

Both McGee and Gibbs' heads turn and Ziva, who was still trying to chase down the fleeing man, stops in her tracks now at what was beginning to happen.

Just as McGee had rightfully feared, the cattle within the enclosed fence were beginning to stir from the fast-moving figure of the runaway suspect. He was still trying to run through the field- but this wasn't too bright of an idea.

More noises comes from the field and McGee practically quivers from what exactly was going on.

Up ahead, the man yells frantically as he now swerves for the fence- no longer aiming to escape the feds, but to escape the disturbed cattle and bulls.

McGee, who can hardly believe his eyes at what is taking place before him, looks to Gibbs with a slight surge of panic for their suspect. What if he gets wounded by one of the cattle? Or worst...?

Gibbs however only shifts nonchalantly with a certain cool to him as he watches on.

The man hurries for the fence where Ziva waits for him; a few of the cattle beginning to let off startling noises as a warning nearby.

"See... he made one dumb mistake. They'll think you're a coyote or something and try and spar you off..." Gibbs remarks rather thoughtfully towards McGee before moving forward to apprehend the man.

McGee only stares on- rather shocked from the scene.

As the man approaches them, one of the younger bulls even starts to chase him, and the suspect shrieks loudly before coming to throw himself over the railing of the fence.

He lands hard on his side before Ziva goes to wrestle him to the ground. "Stay down!" She demands with intensity, and Gibbs comes to cuff the man on queue.

McGee hurries to join them while still holding his astonished expression.

"Wow. That could have ended badly. Quite dangerous." The Probie remarks abruptly, and Ziva only smirks in agreement.

"Augggh! Let go of me! I-I didn't do anything wrong!" The man yells with his face pressed hard into the dirt and gravel. He attempts to continue his speaking but Ziva only shoves him harder into the soil.

Gibbs only chuckles before clasping the cuffs on hard and tight- and this only gains another yell from the man.

"S-So this isn't Garret, right?" McGee questions with a look towards Ziva and Gibbs jerks the man to his feet.

He didn't want to be the only one who noticed how different Garret appeared from this guy.

"No. DiNozzo's got Garret. This here is good ol' Adrien." Gibbs explains with a hard nudge to Adrien's shins. McGee feels his mind cloud with confusion and Ziva only winks at him. "I'll fill you in on the way back." She assures him. She then turns to lead the way towards the main barn where Tony awaited their arrival... along with the notorious Garret Halsworth.

* * *

"Apparently there's two of them." Tony remarks ungratefully as he makes his way into the bullpen with McGee and Ziva at his side. Ziva only chuckles in response as she sets her gear down at her desk.

"Uh Yeah. I-I really figured it out at the last moment." McGee remarks; still feeling a little shaken from the scene and the mad chase. He couldn't quite grasp how Adrien had decided to run through a field of cattle as his escape route. He was completely insane.

"Yeah. When Garret pulled up I didn't know what _in this world_ was going on! I mean I was thinking he cloned himself or something!" Tony jokes humorously at his co-workers who only seemed unamused at his remark. He clears his throat next. "Well... At least now we'll get to figure out this whole situation." Tony concludes with an awkward look before hurrying out of the bullpen.

"Oh yes. Would not want to miss this." Ziva agrees as she and McGee follows him into Observation Room 1.

Garret Halsworth is already sitting in one of the chairs. Either way, he was probably going to be involved somehow through this whole mess and charged with something... Even if that something was small and short-termed.

Upon entering the room though, Abby and Ducky are already there and waiting for the interrogation. Normally these two didn't watch the interrogations- but on this occasion? They didn't want to miss the conclusion to this awful case...

Abby instantly snaps her head around and towards her friends now. "Ohhh! You're back! And you're safe!" She squeals before going to give each field agent a hug.

Tony smiles broadly before crossing his arms. "Nothing we can't ever handle." he muses.

Ducky only grins. "Yes. We figured out that Garret had a brother and Abigail here found the man's prints on some of the grocery items." The doctor explains thoroughly.

"Yeah! But we didn't want to call... we thought we'd blow your stakeout or something." Abby adds with a slight guilt-stricken look. McGee however only shrugs. "Eh, its alright. We surprisingly managed to catch them both." He points out.

"Yes. And that is all that matters." Ziva agrees.

Abby however only turns back to the glass with an expecting look. "I'm still just curious as to how Adrien even fits into all of this... I mean, Rebecca's best friend was Garret! Not Adrien!" She flails her arms in an exasperated manner and Ducky nods.

Just then, Gibbs enters into the interrogation room- his eyes already icy and hard.

"...Welp! We're about to get some answers." Tony chuckles.

...

Gibbs roughly takes a seat before folding his hands on top of the table before him and Garret. The man doesn't even lift his head.

"So..." Gibbs begins abruptly. There was no patience with this one- much less Adrien who'd be next.

Garret heaves a troubling sigh before speaking. "L-Look, I know what it looks like..." He stammers hard and Gibbs only glares.

"Oh Yeah. It looks like a bunch of people were murdered from poison... All over a _childhood friend!"_ The Boss growls loudly out of rage for the situation. There were hardly any ' _good_ ' reasons to kill... but to kill over simple jealousy? Who would do such a low act?

Garret clenches his teeth before finally looking to Gibbs now. He frowns. "I did not kill Jerry. Adrien did. Not me!" He defends himself and Gibbs only rolls his eyes.

"Oh real smooth. Ask your brother to do the dirty work for ya, huh?" Gibbs scoffs dryly and at this, Garret hardens his look.

"You don't understand the situation, sir!"

Gibbs only shifts. "Well then tell me about it. Cause I know all about you and Rebecca..." He grumbles.

At the mention of the name Rebecca, Garret flinches ever so slightly. "Look... I don't know why my brother did it. I did not ask him to kill Jerry, alright!? I was trying to figure out what was wrong with him!" He implies strongly.

"That's why I even went looking for him, okay? I was trying to help! I didn't want to be dragged into this whole mess!"

At this, Gibbs simply raises an eyebrow. Garret tries to continue.

"Adrien... He had been acting strange lately. I think he was just trying... you know, to get back at her or something. Look, I don't even truly know!" The man's eyes scream for Gibbs to believe in his statements but it is no use.

Something was off about this guy...

...

Within minutes Gibbs simply heads for the door and slams it behind him. Once in the hallway, he shakes his head irritably. Garret was completely lying about something. It was one of those gut-feelings...

 _I'll find out soon enough._ He thinks to himself.

He then heads for Interrogation Room 2 where Garret's brother, Adrien Halsworth, is being held.

Tony looks to the team with an expecting look. "You think he's involved?" He questions the lingering group.

McGee gives a small shrug while Ziva nonetheless gives a short nod. "Somehow. He seems to be hiding something." She remarks and Ducky agrees to this with a nod. "I may not be a field agent but being a Psychologist sometimes does the trick. And this man indeed seems to be hiding something..."

With this, Tony leads the way into Observation Room 2. They weren't about to miss part two.

This was the final showdown. Adrien Halsworth would give all the answers. If not, they'd both still possibly be charged. Gibbs would break them at some point.

Abby quickly grabs a spot in the front as Gibbs goes to sit down in front of Adrien now.

The skinny man blinks slowly at Gibbs- his eyes practically lifeless and dull.

"This man makes my skin crawl." Ziva mutters towards Tony and he only nods in agreement.

The room then falls quiet before Gibbs breaks the settling silence.

"Wanna tell me why you murdered a good marine? Along with two children whom you didn't even personally know?" Gibbs' voice is harsh- as it should be.

Adrien rolls his eyes slowly before shrugging. "Hmm... Why do you think I did it?" He asks lowly. His face still holds a ghastly bruise from his frantic leap over the fence just last night.

His attempts to escape the NCIS agents hadn't been very smooth. Running through a field of cattle was never a good idea. Especially at night.

Gibbs narrows his eyes before simply stating, "Your brother ratted you out.. Or are we going to have to arrest the both of ya?" He threatens without a care- and this seems to bother Adrien a bit.

"Arrest us both? Why _both_ of us?" He argues bitterly now and Gibbs only wants to smirk. "Well.. Unless you tell me which one of you made the kills. Or... did you split them between the two of ya?"

"No!" Adrien now stands to his feet- his eyes burning.

This is what the team had been waiting for. Finally this long strange case seemed to be coming to a close.

"So who killed them?" Gibbs asks again and this time Adrien swallows hard. "It was me. I did it." He gestures a hand to himself before taking his seat again.

Tony only chuckles from behind the glass. "Boy, ain't this guy a real card!" he grins.

"Yes, he doesn't seem to hold any emotion for the deaths of the people he killed. He seems to only care about his brother." Ducky observes carefully.

Meanwhile, Gibbs crosses his arms before going to lean back within his chair. "What if I said I don't believe you?" Gibbs mocks with a taunting tone and Adrien only scoffs. "Look. I killed Jerry. I did it to get back at that wretched woman! She was the one who broke my little brother's heart! You just don't do that to your best friend!" he growls before going to curl his fists up into balls. He was clearly trying to refer to Rebecca Phax an obviously he hated her guts.

Ziva only raises an eyebrow at the man. His acts of anger didn't seem threatening to her at all.

Gibbs now holds a thoughtful look though to what this man had to say. "You took Jerry.. into a grocery store? And decided to kill him with poison?... All for your brother?" He stares at Adrien with disbelief. He felt like he wasn't gaining the whole picture. And he was determined to get to the very bottom of this.

"Yes! Believe me! Jerry saw me, and followed me into the grocery store. The break-in was just a facade." He admits willingly... a little too willingly though. "I was going to poison all of the food- that way most of Rebecca's hometown friends would fall sick. But then there was Jerry and... it was the perfect opportunity to kill him." He explains thoroughly.

McGee all the while has his brows furrowed in a confused manner. "You guys buying any of this?" He questions.

Abby quickly shakes her head. "No way..."

"Too easy." Ziva remarks.

Gibbs thinks this too. Heck, he knows this. He's interrogated people for far too long and knows all of the tricks.

"I think.. that you did kill Jerry." Gibbs finally admits, and this gets a relieving look from Adrien. "I did." He nods.

"But..." Gibbs then goes on.

"I also think your brother helped."

And with this, Gibbs begins to head for the door- ending their conversation. He wanted Adrien Halsworth to believe that this talk was over- and yes, Adrien buys it.

"No wait! Okay, fine!" The man yells desperately, and Gibbs pauses at the door.

"My brother..." He pauses with a hesitant look around the room. "H-He may have gotten me the supplies... He gave me stock, alright?"

Gibbs rolls his eyes before snapping at the dark-haired figure with a booming voice next, "What kind of stock?!"

"H-He got me the poison... But! He _did not_ kill anyone!"

A silence quickly falls upon the room with this. And there's the connection...

There's the missing link...

"That's all I need to know." Gibbs mutters before yanking the door shut.

So it was true. Both of them were in on it- and now both of them would be going to rot in prison.

Adrien and Garret Halsworth teamed up and killed a marine. Not to mention those two kids. All because Rebecca chose someone else rather than Garret.

Tony snickers from inside Observation. It was completely ridiculous to think that they had actually hoped to get away with something like this...

"Wow... That's it?" Abby breathes in disbelief. "He like, just told on his own brother! Right then and there!" She gestures towards the man still sitting in the chair. He seemed pleased with himself now- as if he had saved his brother from the fate of prison... but no. He had done the exact opposite.

"Yeah, sometimes they don't even think when they confess. Some people just aren't too smart in these areas." McGee tells the startled Goth- his eyes still on Adrien.

"Well I'm just bloody glad that you caught the killers!" Ducky praises with a relieving smile before heading for the door. "Those poison attacks were getting way too out of hand." He adds, and Ziva only gives a look. "I cannot believe Garret was the supplier. Makes sense now though. Both of them went off the grid for a reason..." She points out.

Once back out into the hallway though, Gibbs is standing there- a coffee cup already in hand. He is waiting for his agents.

"Boss? So like, now what? We've caught the bad guys. Like always." Tony chuckles as he comes to stand in front of his boss.

Gibbs takes a sip of his coffee before nodding. "Guess I should tell Rebecca the news before letting her go. Hopefully she'll be able to move on from all of this." He mutters. He'd also need to question Adrien some more for the whereabouts of any more leftover poison... But that would be for later. He'd surely crack him some more.

He then though looks back at his three agents expectantly at the thought of the poison. "Well. We don't exactly know if Adrien left some of his poison behind at that ranch yet or not."

All three of the agents look at each other. "W-Well.. he didn't _seem_ to have any poison, right?" McGee inputs slowly.

Gibbs only furrows his brow.

"No. I'm not taking any chances. Go back and retrace his steps. I want you to collect any and all things that might be vital for touching. He may have dropped off some more poison there. I mean, it was his next targeting place anyhow... Heck, he could have dumped his poison container in the woods nearby or something. Who knows..."

The three only fall silent. Nobody liked the thought of what was to come.

"But Boss... that could take like.. forever?" Tony questions rather stunned. Was he kidding or something?... Was he really going to make them go back to that ranch and collect more horrid evidence? With those unfriendly ranch people and everything?

Gibbs just smirks. "Yeah, I know. But, it needs to be done." And with this, he heads back around the corner that would take him to the squad room. But not without yelling, "Bag and tag it!" Over his shoulder.

He then just grins to himself. One more case solved.

Meanwhile, Tony's mouth is already agape. He did _not_ want to go back to that ranch! And for what? Looking for poison? Searching for residue of some sort?

He then slowly turns to his two co-workers- the thought of their endless work straining each one of their minds. He shifts a bit. "Hey... Just so you guys know..." He begins rather awkwardly. "Once we're done bagging and tagging... I call dibs on _not_ carrying all of the evidence back to the car..."

McGee and Ziva just roll their eyes...

This was going to be interesting.

 **A/N: Hey everyone! And the story finally comes to a close. This was like my first crime story so I am sorry if I left anything out or didn't do the very best at meeting expectations. I worked really hard on this though! And I wanted everyone to enjoy every bit of it :)**

 **I'd like to sincerely thank all of my readers and reviewers. Means a lot to me that people have kept up with the story. I mean wow! SO many reviews for this story? I am very shocked yet so thrilled!  
**

 **Of course I will write another story soon and I hope everyone tunes in (It may not be crime though) But who knows!**

 **I'm just glad that you all have made me feel like I've done a decent job with my first crime story :) Thanks again! So glad I've finally finished.  
**

 ****Oh! And for those who wonder how Tony and Ziva were poisoned at the beginning- yeah it was after they helped finish with the evidence. When they took off their gloves to throw them away, this was when I imagine a slight accidental graze from the side of a glove or something to one's skin. That's all it would take anyhow. And then this would soon transfer to the other from the touching of the car keys. This is why and how Tony and Ziva were poisoned for a short bit.  
**


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